World of Warcraft veteran Chris Metzen joins the development team

Blizzard has announced that Chris Metzen, senior designer of Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, is returning to the company as a creative consultant after a several-year hiatus.

Warcraft General Manager John Hight said in a post on the World of Warcraft website, “I am pleased to announce that Chris Metzen has joined the Warcraft leadership team as a Creative Advisor. Chris’ attention will be first on World of Warcraft. , then work will expand to other projects in this growing franchise.

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— John High (@JHight_Gamer) December 15, 2022

“Chris was one of the original team members who worked on the Warcraft universe when it began in 1994, and we are excited to reunite him with the world he helped create.”

Metzen left Blizzard in 2016 after a nearly 23-year career with the company. He was instrumental in creating the Warcraft universe in the mid-1990s and has since served as creative director for numerous Blizzard projects, including his highly regarded tenure as lead writer and writer of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos . He was also the creator of Overwatch’s Soldier 76 and is known to fans as the voice of Thrall, one of Warcraft’s main orc characters.

Metzen founded the board game company Warchief Gaming in 2020 after leaving Blizzard, and released his first project last year, Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent.

Metzen’s return to Blizzard sees him rejoining the universe he created as a creative consultant. The company initially envisioned him as a mentor to the World of Warcraft team, but will eventually expand to help other projects in the series (possibly Hearthstone).

World of Warcraft has expanded once again with Dragonflight, which we described in our review as “an impressive and well-written experience for the first few dozen hours, but suffers from some tired endgame options.”