Faries will replace Mike Ybarra.
A photograph of Johanna Faries, the new president of Blizzard Entertainment.

On the same day Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees from their game studios, it was announced that several leaders within Blizzard were leaving. One of those leaders included Mike Ybarra, the now former president of Blizzard. Today, a new president was announced for Blizzard Entertainment and that is former Call of Duty and NFL executive Johanna Faries.

Faries is now the first new president of Blizzard since Microsoft finalized its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October 2022. The announcement was first made to employees via an email from president of Xbox content Matt Booty in a staff email sent out on Monday, January 29th. That email was then made public thanks to sources close to CharlieIntel. This email included news of Faries new position at Blizzard and also touches briefly on last week's massive layoffs.

I want to start by acknowledging the impact of the events last week and thank everyone for the professionalism and empathy I've seen as we navigate a demanding and difficult situation. Our commitment to Blizzard remains strong. We are dedicated to helping the studio reach its full potential and confident that the teams will continue the current momentum of building great games.(...)

With this context front and center, I am pleased to announce Johanna Faries as the new President of Blizzard Entertainment.
The email continues on to say how Booty was impressed by Faries's "thoughtful, considerate, and focused approach to leadership". Officially, Faries will assume her new presidential role at Blizzard on February 5. She is currently working with Blizzard leadership during this transitional period.

Faries was the general manager of Call of Duty, mainly in charge of overseeing the esports side of the franchise. She also worked with the National Football League (NFL) for 12 years, where she took on a number of roles including vice president of club business development. Faries took to the official Blizzard News channels to introduce herself and to also touch upon the recent layoffs within Microsoft.

Though my official first day with you all is February 5, I want to let you know immediately that it is an honor to join you next week in this new capacity. I do so humbly and in awe of all that Blizzard has stood for and delivered to the world for over thirty years. Today also brings some mixed emotions. The loss of talented teammates in recent days is hard to hold side-by-side with the immense excitement I feel about joining Blizzard – and building on the momentum you’ve created for Blizzard’s next chapter.
Besides Faries, it was revealed that Matt Cox is now the senior vice president and general manager of Call of Duty. Cox has been at Activision for 15 years has worked on franchises such as Destiny, Call of Duty, and Guitar Hero.