Blizzard Entertainment has announced today that Chris Metzen, former creative lead on multiple World of Warcraft expansions, is moving into a full time position as executive creative director on the Warcraft franchise once again.
— World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) September 26, 2023
“We are excited to share that Chris Metzen has taken on a full-time role as executive creative director of the Warcraft universe,” the statement reads. “Right now, his main focus is supporting our World of Warcraft leadership in crafting the next generation of adventures.”
Metzen has played a key role in the Warcraft franchise since its very beginning on WarCraft 1, going on to work on all three WarCraft games and serving as creative director on the original World of Warcraft and its subsequent expansions, including the celebrated Wrath of the Lich King, through Mists of Pandaria. He took on a smaller role in Legion while also working as creative director on Overwatch in 2016 before departing the company entirely to start a tabletop gaming venture. He returned to Blizzard late last year in a “creative advisor” role.
The language of Blizzard’s announcement puts Metzen not just in charge of the creative direction of World of Warcraft, but of the whole Warcraft franchise. While World of Warcraft has been its primary pillar in recent years, there have been signs that Blizzard is keen to explore other options. It recently remade WarCraft 3, and released a Warcraft mobile tower defense game in soft launch this year as well. Blizzard’s reference to the “next generation of adventures” could simply imply more World of Warcraft expansions, but it’s possible the company has something entirely new in mind for the franchise under Metzen’s guidance.
World of Warcraft itself is currently midway through its ninth expansion, Dragonflight, with fans currently expecting the next major patch sometime before the end of the year. We gave Dragonflight a 7/10 at launch, saying it was “a sharply-written and breathtaking experience for the first few dozen hours, but suffers from somewhat threadbare endgame options.”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
This article was amended post-publication to better clarify the current status of Warcraft Rumble.
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