As 2024 comes to an end, Blizzard’s President Johanna Faires shares reflections on a year filled with achievements, community connection, and real-world impact. From the epic launch of The War Within and Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred to returning to China and raising millions for charity, 2024 has been a year to remember!
On top of that, an interesting infographic revealed that players played 8.34 billion hours across all games and platforms in 2024! WoW players killed 4.5 billion spiders and Nerubians this year. Check out the end-of-year review below.
Hello everyone,
As 2024 comes to a close in just a few weeks, and we look ahead to the future, now is a wonderful time to reflect on a year’s worth of connection, joy, memory-making, and what we have accomplished together.
As I approach my first full year with Blizzard, I am filled with deep gratitude and inspiration. The powerful work that our teams have produced—both for our player communities around the world and for each other—is nothing short of amazing. It remains a daily honor to work alongside such a talented and dedicated group of people, who are the guiding force behind what makes Blizzard such a special place. I am incredibly grateful for their camaraderie and collaboration, feedback and guidance, resilience and creativity, and their commitment to excellence each and every day.
As we boldly continue on our mission of fostering joy and belonging for everyone, let’s celebrate some highlights from the past year, which represent only a slice of the many magical moments we’ve experienced together with all of you:
(excluding China)
Blizzard at Large
Beyond the tremendous achievements and milestone markers within our games and teams, we’ve also taken part in some pretty big developments. In our first full year as part of Xbox, we’ve been thrilled to embrace our new community and to broaden access to Blizzard games.
2024 was also a big year for Blizzard releases, including World of Warcraft’s multi-expansion story arc, the Worldsoul Saga, with the launch of The War Within, followed by a truly amazing anniversary celebration that spanned the entire Warcraft universe including WoW Modern and Classic, Hearthstone, and Warcraft Rumble, as well as a very special Warcraft Direct broadcast.
In October, we also brought Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred to the world, expanding the world of Sanctuary with the lush jungles of Nahantu, introducing the new Spiritborn class, and continuing the story that gripped us all in Diablo IV.
Earlier this year, we were overjoyed to bring Blizzard games back to mainland China in partnership with NetEase. We love being able to serve our players in China once more and to successfully welcome so many back to both World of Warcraft and Hearthstone in the region. The messages we have received from players returning both to Azeroth and the Tavern remind us of the power of our games to unite us in our shared passion—and this is just the beginning.
Giving back has always been deeply important to our players and our teams, and 2024 saw incredible real-world impact across our games. We were honored to donate USD $12.3 million to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation from proceeds from our Pink Mercy skin in Overwatch 2. This effort reflects the enormous generosity of our community, as our Overwatch Pink Mercy campaigns from this year and 2018 are now accountable for the largest and second-largest single corporate donations ever made to the BCRF—a cumulative total of over USD $25 million!
On Earth Day, in true Diablo fashion, Duriel’s Offering raised over 666 buckets of maggots for Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, an organization that specializes in the rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife in Britain. These buckets of maggots provided 2.5 years’ worth of food for their wild bird program.
Additionally, our WoW charity pet this year held special significance to all of us at Blizzard. The Reven Pack is inspired by the powerful story captured in “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” documentary currently available on Netflix about Mats “Ibelin” Steen, a Norwegian WoW player who suffered from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Through January 7, 2025, all proceeds from The Reven Pack sales will support CureDuchenne.
We are so very grateful for all of your support on these campaigns and so many other significant efforts throughout the year. Thank you for your generosity and for contributing to these real-world causes through your connections with our online worlds.
Revisiting tradition, we got to meet players, friends, and colleagues at some of the industry’s foremost events like Game Developers Conference and gamescom, among others. At these events, Blizzard teams shared insights and updates with both the industry and players at large about what we’re working on and how we all play a role in furthering the work of creating the best gaming experiences possible.
Additionally, in our offices around the world, we held meaningful cultural events and employee-centered celebrations, allowing us to build connections and share in important conversations.
As part of my own first year here, I had loved getting to meet with employees throughout Blizzard—getting to know one another better, hearing their feedback and ideas for our road forward, and learning more about how much Blizzard means to all of us. I can’t wait to continue visiting more teams and offices through the course of next year, and to continue connecting thoughtfully with the many amazing people who make up the Blizzard universe.
Blizzard in 2025
Looking ahead, 2025 is poised to be another big year of new and exciting experiences to come. Until then, on behalf of Blizzard, THANK YOU! Wishing you and yours a healthy and happy new year, and the very best for the year ahead.
Johanna Faries