Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick slammed the 2016 Warcraft film adaptation as "one of the worst movies I've ever seen" in a recent interview with Grit. Kotick, who helmed Activision Blizzard for 32 years before his departure in December 2023, attributed the film's negative impact to the significant distraction it caused within the World of Warcraft development team, contributing to the departure of veteran designer Chris Metzen in 2016.
Kotick highlighted Metzen's crucial role in the company's creative output, stating, "Chris Metzen was — and is, to me — the heart and soul of creativity of the company." He explained that the film, a pre-existing deal Activision inherited, consumed substantial resources and diverted developers' attention from their core game development responsibilities. This resulted in delays to World of Warcraft expansions and patches.
The film's poor performance, while achieving international success, particularly in China ($439 million globally, but a domestic gross of only $47 million), ultimately fell short of expectations, failing to recoup its substantial budget. Kotick revealed that Metzen, deeply affected by the film's production, eventually left to establish a board game company. Despite Kotick's attempts to persuade Metzen to return as a consultant, Metzen expressed significant concerns about the planned expansions, advocating for a complete overhaul.
While Kotick admitted limited subsequent interaction with Metzen, he credited Metzen's influence on the most recent World of Warcraft expansion, describing it as "excellent" and expressing confidence in the upcoming expansion. This sentiment is echoed in a 9/10 review of World of Warcraft: The War Within, which praised the expansion for revitalizing the long-running MMO.
