In a revealing interview on Grit, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who stepped down in December 2023 after a 32-year tenure, expressed strong criticism of Universal's 2016 adaptation of Activision Blizzard's Warcraft. Kotick labeled the film as "one of the worst movies I've ever seen," and highlighted its negative impact on the development of World of Warcraft, describing it as a significant distraction for the team.
Kotick pointed out that the movie played a role in the departure of veteran designer Chris Metzen in 2016, whom he described as "the heart and soul of creativity of the company." According to Kotick, the film's production was a "terrible idea" that had been signed before Activision's acquisition of the company. The project consumed substantial resources and diverted the attention of Blizzard's developers, leading to delays in game expansions and patches.
Despite its domestic underperformance, grossing only $47 million in North America, Warcraft achieved international success, particularly in China, and temporarily became the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time. However, with a total of $439 million in earnings, it was still considered a financial disappointment by Legendary Pictures due to its high budget.
Kotick noted that Metzen took the movie's failure personally before leaving to start a board game company. Kotick later "begged" Metzen to return to Blizzard on a consultancy basis. Although Metzen was critical of the plans for the next two expansions, suggesting they needed a complete overhaul, Kotick respected his expertise, stating, "What am I going to tell Chris Metzen about game design, you know? I just wanted him to do his thing."
Metzen's influence was evident in the last expansion, which Kotick praised highly. This sentiment was echoed in our World of Warcraft The War Within review, where we awarded it a 9/10, describing it as "the best World of Warcraft has been on all fronts in many years, making this two-decade-old MMO feel fresh and thrilling again."
While fans of the Warcraft movie may not see a sequel, director Duncan Jones had previously shared his vision for a trilogy that would have fulfilled "the fulfilling of Durotan’s promise to give his people a new home."
