Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick recently shared his thoughts on the 2016 film adaptation of *Warcraft*, calling it "one of the worst movies I've ever seen." In a candid conversation with Grit, Kotick, who stepped down in December 2023 after leading the company for 32 years, explained how the movie impacted the development of *World of Warcraft*. According to Kotick, the project served as a significant distraction for Blizzard’s developers and contributed to the departure of veteran designer Chris Metzen in 2016.
"Chris Metzen was — and is, to me — the heart and soul of creativity at the company," Kotick remarked. "He left because he got burnt out. They made *World of Warcraft* the movie, which I thought was a terrible idea — but they'd signed the deal before we owned the company. It took a lot of resources and distracted the team at Blizzard."
Kotick noted that during this period, expansions were delayed, and patches fell behind schedule. Despite its poor reception in North America, where it earned just $47 million domestically, the movie briefly became the highest-grossing video game adaptation worldwide thanks to its success in China. Ultimately, *Warcraft* brought in $439 million globally for Legendary Pictures, though the studio considered it a financial failure due to its high production costs.
Kotick admitted that Metzen "took it very personally" and later left to start a board game company. Although Kotick eventually persuaded Metzen to return as a consultant, he expressed skepticism about the direction of the next two expansions. Metzen reportedly believed they required a complete overhaul.
When asked about his communication with Metzen post-return, Kotick replied, "Hardly ever. What am I going to tell Chris Metzen about game design? I just wanted him to do his thing." He praised Metzen’s involvement in the last expansion, which received critical acclaim, scoring a 9/10 in a *World of Warcraft* review, described as "the best the game has been on all fronts in years, making this two-decade-old MMO feel fresh and thrilling again."
