Kotick Criticizes Warcraft Movie as 'One of the Worst'

In a revealing interview on Grit, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who stepped down in December 2023 after leading the company for 32 years, expressed strong criticism of the 2016 film adaptation of Warcraft. Kotick labeled it as "one of the worst movies I've ever seen," suggesting that the film not only was a disappointment but also had a significant impact on the development of World of Warcraft.

Kotick highlighted the movie as a major distraction for the World of Warcraft development team, which he believes 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 remarked, underscoring Metzen's importance to Blizzard. He explained that the movie project, which had been greenlit before Activision's ownership of Blizzard, consumed substantial resources and pulled developers away from their core work on the game.

The film's production, according to Kotick, led to delays in game expansions and patches, impacting the overall development timeline. Despite its poor performance in North America, where it earned just $47 million, Warcraft found significant success internationally, particularly in China, grossing a total of $439 million for Legendary Pictures. However, it was considered a financial disappointment due to its high production costs.

Kotick shared that Metzen took the film's reception very personally, eventually leaving to start a board game company. Kotick later convinced Metzen to return to Blizzard on a consultancy basis, although Metzen was critical of the plans for the next two expansions, suggesting they needed a complete overhaul.

Despite limited communication with Metzen after his return, Kotick praised the designer's influence on the latest expansion, The War Within, which received a stellar 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."

While a sequel to the Warcraft movie seems unlikely, director Duncan Jones had previously shared plans for a trilogy that would have followed "the fulfilling of Durotan’s promise to give his people a new home," indicating the potential for a richer narrative arc had the series continued.