Kotick Criticizes Warcraft Film 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 his strong disapproval of Universal's 2016 adaptation of Activision Blizzard's Warcraft, calling it "one of the worst movies I've ever seen." Kotick highlighted the film's detrimental impact on the development of World of Warcraft, describing it as a "distraction" that contributed to veteran designer Chris Metzen's departure from the company in 2016.

"Chris Metzen was — and is, to me — the heart and soul of creativity of the company," Kotick stated, emphasizing Metzen's importance to Activision Blizzard. He revealed that the movie project, which was already signed before Activision took over, drained significant resources and distracted Blizzard's developers. Kotick noted that the involvement of game developers in movie production, from casting to being on set, was a major distraction that led to delays in game expansions and patches.

Despite the movie's poor performance in North America, earning just $47 million domestically, it became the most successful video game adaptation internationally at the time, thanks to its popularity in China. Overall, Warcraft grossed $439 million for Legendary Pictures, but was considered a failure due to its high budget.

Kotick mentioned that Metzen took the movie's failure "very personally" before leaving to start a board game company. However, Kotick later "begged" Metzen to return on a consultancy basis. Upon his return, Metzen was critical of the plans for the next two expansions, suggesting they needed to be "redone" entirely.

Reflecting on their communication after Metzen's return, Kotick admitted they hardly spoke, acknowledging Metzen's expertise in game design. He praised the last expansion, World of Warcraft: The War Within, which Metzen significantly influenced, earning a remarkable 9/10 in our review. We described 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."