Activision Blizzard CEO Slams 'Warcraft' Film

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 movie, a pre-existing deal Activision inherited, consumed substantial resources and diverted developer attention. The resulting consequences included delayed expansions and missed patch deadlines.

"It took a lot of resources and distracted [developers at Blizzard]," Kotick stated. "They're helping with the casting, and they're on the set... it's just a huge distraction. Our expansions were late. Patches weren't getting done on time."

Despite the film's international success, grossing $439 million globally (though falling short of breaking even), its domestic performance was weak, earning only $47 million in North America. Kotick revealed that Metzen took the film's failure personally, prompting his departure to establish a board game company. Kotick later attempted to re-engage Metzen as a consultant, but Metzen expressed significant concerns about the direction of subsequent World of Warcraft expansions, advocating for a complete overhaul.

Although Kotick and Metzen's post-reunion interaction remained limited, Kotick expressed satisfaction with Metzen's influence on the latest expansion, stating, "The last expansion, he had his fingertips all over it. It's excellent. The next one is going to be great." This sentiment aligns with our own review of World of Warcraft: The War Within, which received a 9/10 rating and was lauded as "the best World of Warcraft has been on all fronts in many years."