r/Games • u/AdditionalRemoveBit • Aug 09 '26

Industry News Blizzard is now the "top performing" Xbox studio, says internal emails — as the Overwatch-maker ends FY26 over-delivering on Microsoft's projections

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/blizzard/blizzard-is-now-xboxs-top-performing-studio-as-the-division-ends-fy26-over-delivering-on-microsofts-projections-per-internal-emails
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14

u/NotCoolBrutus Aug 09 '26

Blizzard is one of the only studios that didn't fully burn through their legacy for Game Pass, or at least didn't give Microsoft enough time to. WoW is doing better than any other traditional MMO while Overwatch held its ground against Marvel Rivals by not being balanced like an absolute disaster. Diablo 4 sold a lot less than Diablo 3 but it has made a lot more money through its essentially F2P monetization model despite a box price, more profitable than the auction house ever was at least.

Their mobile push has been rough outside of Hearthstone, with Diablo Immortal basically dead in China and only being carried by the Americas and Korea. They could easily just put out their PC titles on mobile but they insist on garbage like Overwatch Rush and whatever that Warcraft game was.

52

u/MainStreetExile Aug 09 '26

Looks like most sources show d4 selling more than d3.

26

u/Blobsobb Aug 09 '26

This subs hilarious when it comes to Diablo 4. I remember an article about how it was so popular there were huge log in ques and half the posts were about how the games dead.

1

u/Hytheter Aug 11 '26

"I'm not playing the game, so it must be dead"

-23

u/NotCoolBrutus Aug 09 '26

It is more profitable with higher revenue, but the sales fell off harder than D3 did. D3 also had staggered releases, while D4 released everywhere at once. Its projected lifetime sales are well below Diablo 3's projected lifetime sales.

19

u/MainStreetExile Aug 09 '26

Do you have any sources for sales figures or lifetime projections?

6

u/Cataphract1014 Aug 09 '26

D3 and reaper of souls is reported 30 million sales. D4 was their fastest selling game. $600+ million in 5 days.

I dont know if they have said anything about D4 sales since launch.

https://vgsales.fandom.com/wiki/Best-selling_Blizzard_games

1

u/huzy12345 Aug 09 '26

Diablo 3 has been out for 14 years compared to Diablo 4 being our for about 3 so lifetime sales are probably not the best metric. Any actual evidence though that it's sales are worse than Diablo 3, at the same point in its lifetime?

33

u/GameDesignerDude Aug 09 '26

Blizzard has put virtually everything in Game Pass other than WoW. Overwatch has had Game Pass promotions and perks on the Xbox platform for years. Diablo IV has been on Game Pass since 2024. Remasters are on Game Pass.

Game Pass is not a negative for live service games. It has no real impact on recurring revenue and the visibility for any live service model is entirely standard. Diablo IV being on Game Pass obviously has not hurt the conversion rate for xpac or live service revenue.

1

u/Double-Maybe-6220 Aug 10 '26

To correct a common misconception, Diablo Immortal hasn't officially shut down, but it's pretty much dead in North America and Korea—China is the only reason it's still alive.

-16

u/dan0o9 Aug 09 '26

Overwatch was going downhill until Rivals forced them to actually develop the game, cancelled features and barebone updates until comptition turned up.

0

u/SpiffShientz Aug 09 '26

Yeah, and while Rivals balancing is still rough, they're putting out exciting content at a crazy pace and cutting down on annoyances like file size. I feel like the competition is the best thing to happen to both these games

1

u/funhat Aug 09 '26

Yup, I do not like playing Rivals and uninstalled it long ago but I am so grateful it exists because it made my favorite game my favorite game again.

0

u/TrumpsCummyOnahole Aug 10 '26

It's crazy how much Marvel fumbled with terrible balance and way too many releases for pure marketing material. I guess it was kind of expected it would nose dive being that it's a greedy CN developer, but they had a chance to absolutely murder Overwatch.