"Ex-Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Criticizes Warcraft Movie as 'One of the Worst'"

In a revealing interview on Grit, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who led the company for 32 years before stepping down in December 2023, expressed strong criticism of Universal's 2016 adaptation of Activision Blizzard's Warcraft. Kotick labeled the movie as "one of the worst movies I've ever seen," and highlighted its negative impact on the development of World of Warcraft. He described the film as a significant "distraction" for the team, which he believes contributed to veteran designer Chris Metzen's departure from the company in 2016.

Kotick praised Metzen, calling him "the heart and soul of creativity of the company." He explained that Metzen left due to burnout and the strain of the movie project, which had been signed before Activision owned the company. Kotick noted the film's production consumed a lot of resources and distracted Blizzard's developers, leading to delayed expansions and patches. He vividly described how the developers were pulled into movie-related tasks like casting and set work, which he saw as a major diversion from their primary responsibilities.

Despite the movie's poor performance in North America, where it earned just $47 million, Warcraft became the most successful video game adaptation internationally at the time, thanks largely to its popularity in China. The film's total earnings reached $439 million, yet it was considered a failure by Legendary Pictures due to its high budget.

Kotick mentioned that Metzen took the movie's failure personally before leaving to start a board game company. Kotick later "begged" Metzen to return as a consultant. 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."