There is such a lack of creativity within Activision Blizzard that a developer who was supposed to retire was pulled for content updates for an MMO that has been running for nearly two decades…?!
A lot of big, veteran developers have taken their hats from Blizzard in recent years. Among them is Chris Metzen, who has worked as a designer on several Blizzard-related franchises, so it can also be said that he is the creative mind of the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo universes. However, in 2016, he decided to retire (he was 42 years old at the time!) to spend more time with his family, but quietly returned to the company during 2022 where he was offered a consulting position at Blizzard.
However, he now has a much larger role, as Blizzard announced on the official Warcraft Twitter account that Metzen has become the chief creative director for the Warcraft franchise, and will be working primarily on World of Warcraft: “We are pleased to share that Chris Metzen has taken on a full-time role as responsible creative director.” For the World of Warcraft. His primary focus currently is supporting World of Warcraft management in creating the next generation of adventures. Chris has been instrumental in building the foundations of the World of Warcraft, and we’re thrilled to have him rejoin our teams to shape what’s to come. At BlizzCon, he and the team will share what we’re working on. We hope See you there!”
The World of Warcraft team was particularly affected by the fact that there was a toxic and toxic work culture within Activision Blizzard, and when it came to light, several people were fired and others resigned. It didn’t help that the MMORPG Dragonflight expansion wasn’t great. Interestingly, the ad stated that it “creates the next generation of adventures.” Have they thought about more accessories or are they planning a serious facelift for World of Warcraft? Even the latter sounds alarming, but if Warcraft becomes a new RTS game, it will already exhaust the definition used in the announcement.
Although it can be said that Warcraft will be in good hands, Metzen’s return raises some questions. For example, how come they haven’t found new talent since then, who could carry the baton at the usual level?
source: WCCFTech