Leaked Internal Email Reveals Blizzard Is Xbox's Top-Performing Studio

Blizzard Was Officially Xbox's Top-Performing Studio In FY26 Thanks To Diablo And Overwatch Published Aug 9, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT James Lucas is an Executive Editor at TheGamer who has worked in professional journalism since 2018. A Newcastle University graduate with a degree in Journalism, Media, and Culture, they have written hundreds of guides, news stories, and original reports, with bylines in IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, sourcing interviews with studio heads, legendary industry figures, prominent actors, and more. An expert on FPS games, Soulslikes, RPGs, and survival horror, James has intimate knowledge of a wide variety of titles, providing in-depth coverage and exclusive profiles. Some of the games they have extensively covered include: Half-Life 3, Counter-Strike, Elden Ring, and Fallout. They pride themselves on their consistently thorough research, leveraging nearly a decade of industry experience. You can reach them at James.t@thegamer.com Sign in to your TheGamer account Thanks to the historic $68.7 billion Activision acquisition, Blizzard now operates as a separate entity under Xbox. And clearly, it's paying off. In a leaked internal email shared by Windows Central ahead of BlizzCon, Blizzard president Johanna Faries claimed that the studio was Xbox's top performer in fiscal year 2026. "The weekend will reflect the bold and collaborative work of everyone reading this," she said. "It's my hope that the event can shine a light on the work underway at Blizzard, and that it can serve as a powerful springboard into a new era of momentum and excitement behind our mission to bring joy and belonging for communities worldwide. "In FY26 Blizzard ended the year as the top-performing studio in Xbox's studios division," she continued. "And this past year has marked our third-highest fiscal for top line revenue in Blizzard's history." Overwatch Saw Its Strongest Quarter In Four Years Fairies explained that FY26 is the first time in a decade that Blizzard has seen consecutive quarters of growth. "Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred and Overwatch drove exceptional performance in particular, with Overwatch delivering its strongest quarter since 2022," she said. Blizzard might be on the up, but Activision and King saw a slump in FY26 after the disappointing launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and a difficult year for Candy Crush. There have also been significant layoffs across the board at Xbox, with studios spun off as independent — including Double Fine, which faced subsequent layoffs. And despite its success, not even Blizzard was exempt, facing "comparatively minimal" cuts. As for the other top performers, according to Bloomberg, the acquisition of Minecraft developer Mojang has proven an equally lucrative deal for Xbox Game Studios. According to its sources, "Profits from Minecraft, considered one of the most successful video games in the world, were used to fund the rest of the gaming portfolio," helping the console giant to weather a rough generation. However, new leadership, including CEO Asha Sharma, believes that Xbox has not invested enough in Minecraft, and so now Mojang will report directly to her. Brand Microsoft Original Release Date November 10, 2020 Original MSRP (USD) $499 Operating System Proprietary (Windows-based) Processor Custom AMD 8-core Zen 2 3.8 GHz Resolution 720p - 4K UHD