In a revealing interview on Grit, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who stepped down in December 2023 after leading the company for 32 years, shared his harsh critique of the 2016 Universal 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 at Blizzard.
Kotick pointed out that the movie played a role in the departure of veteran designer Chris Metzen in 2016, whom he praised as "the heart and soul of creativity of the company." He elaborated on the distractions caused by the film, noting that it diverted resources and attention from game development, leading to delays in expansions and patches. "Our expansions were late. You know, patches weren't getting done on time," Kotick stated, emphasizing the movie's detrimental effect on the team's focus and productivity.
Despite its domestic underperformance, grossing only $47 million in North America, Warcraft became the most successful video game adaptation internationally at the time, largely due to its popularity in China. The film ultimately earned $439 million worldwide, but this was still deemed a failure by Legendary Pictures given the movie's substantial budget.
Kotick revealed that Metzen took the movie's failure personally, which contributed to his decision to leave and start a board game company. However, Kotick later "begged" Metzen to return to Blizzard on a consultancy basis. Upon his return, Metzen expressed dissatisfaction with the plans for the next two expansions, suggesting they needed a complete overhaul.
While Kotick admitted to limited interaction with Metzen after his return, he acknowledged Metzen's significant influence on the last expansion, World of Warcraft: The War Within, which received a glowing 9/10 in our review. We described 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."
Director Duncan Jones, who helmed the Warcraft movie, had once shared plans for a trilogy that would have explored "the fulfilling of Durotan’s promise to give his people a new home," but these plans were ultimately canceled.
