Former Blizzard Chief Slams Warcraft Movie as 'Terrible'

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 several factors, including its distraction of the World of Warcraft development team and its contribution to the departure of veteran designer Chris Metzen in 2016.

Kotick described Metzen as "the heart and soul of creativity" at the company. He explained that the movie, a pre-existing deal Activision inherited, consumed significant resources and diverted developer attention. The resulting consequences included delayed expansions and missed patch deadlines. Kotick emphasized the disruption caused by developers being involved in aspects like casting and on-set work.

While the Warcraft film's North American box office performance was underwhelming ($47 million), its international success, particularly in China, led to a global gross of $439 million. However, this still fell short of recouping its substantial budget, leading Legendary Pictures to consider it a failure.

Kotick revealed that Metzen, deeply affected by the film's production, left to establish a board game company. Kotick subsequently attempted to persuade Metzen to return as a consultant, but Metzen expressed dissatisfaction with the planned expansions, advocating for a complete overhaul. Despite Metzen's brief return, their subsequent interaction was minimal, with Kotick deferring to Metzen's expertise in game design. Kotick expressed confidence in the quality of the subsequent expansion, a sentiment echoed by a 9/10 review of World of Warcraft: The War Within, praising it as a revitalizing experience for the long-running MMO.