Blizzard president Johanna Faries has been speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg today, discussing how the company has changed since she became president in 2024, as well as where it's heading in the future.
The most notable bit from an Xbox perspective comes at the end of the chat, when Faries is questioned about what it's like to be under Xbox ownership and whether any "pressures" have changed from Microsoft in the past couple of years.
Faries then notes that Microsoft expects high standards, but the company feels trusted inside of Xbox:
"I feel incredibly empowered for where we sit. Now, we are responsible to drive a thriving business. We’re going to hold ourselves to high standards. Microsoft expects high standards, but provided we have our house in order, if you will. I think in many ways it’s a credit to Matt Booty and Phil Spencer. I think they’re fans of Blizzard. They want to see Blizzard thrive, and I think they trust in the talent that we have here to be able to write our future."
Bloomberg later questions the Blizzard president on whether the company is responsible for hitting a target of 30% profit margins as reported in the past, which she says she "can't speak to".
Instead, she chooses to highlight how they feel "seen and valued as a gem in the portfolio".
"I can’t speak to the Xbox targets specifically that have been covered. I just come back to: I think we are seen and valued as a gem in the portfolio, and we’re given a lot of agency to be able to try and drive the growth that we want to see."
Just yesterday, Faries mentioned in a separate interview how Blizzard is gearing up for its biggest year ever in 2026, and she states again here how "the best days for Blizzard are ahead of us" and "not far off".
There's also a final question about whether Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty has issued any requests to "do this, this and this", with Faries explaining that his biggest request is simply "how can I help?" more than anything else.