Metzen retired in 2016 after 22 years at Blizzard working on World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and StarCraft. He currently returns as WoW’s creative advisor.
John Hite, Senior Vice President and General Manager of World of Warcraft, has announced that longtime WoW veteran Chris Metzen, also known for his work on Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch, will be returning to the company.
pic.twitter.com/Mwi6pXUcPi
— John Hight (@JHight_Gamer) December 15, 2022
Metzen began working for the company in 1994 as an artist on the original Warcraft, before turning his talents to other Blizzard games. He also voiced the orc Thrall and co-produced the 2016 film Warcraft. The full list of Chris’ works can be found here – to understand why his fans are so happy about his return.
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In 2016, Metzen went on a well-deserved vacation, and in 2021, he apologized on social networks — when news of harassment and discrimination at Blizzard broke.
“I offer you my deepest apologies for the role I played in a culture that fostered harassment, inequality and indifference,” he wrote on Twitter. But Metzen was not named in any of the lawsuits filed by the company.
This is the last because it has to be. Here’s my response. pic.twitter.com/0h8iF6a1JR
— Chris Metzen (@ChrisMetzen) July 24, 2021
The Blizzard game designer returns as a creative advisor to World of Warcraft before being involved in other related WoW projects.
“We are so excited to reunite him with the world he helped create,” Hight wrote on Twitter.
In August, Bloomberg reported that Blizzard had canceled the World of Warcraft mobile spin-off and fired a team of 100+ developers. The project, codenamed Netptune, was in the works for three years before disagreements over funding led to the end of the collaboration. According to the developers, the action of the game would take place in Azeroth, but in a different era than in the original World of Warcraft.
Bloomberg: Blizzard Cancels World of Warcraft Mobile Spin-Off After Three Years in Development, Fires Team of 100+ Developers
Source: The Verge
