Blizzard has announced that Chris Metzen, who returned to the company last year in a Creative Advisor role on Warcraft has now taken on a full time role as Executive Creative Director of the Warcraft universe.
Blizzard shared the news today that Metzen had shifted to this full-time role and “his main focus is supporting our World of Warcraft leadership in crafting the next generation of Adventures”. This is a tease of what is to come for the Blizzard vet and legendary dev who helped lay the very foundation of WoW in the first place. Up next? BlizzCon.
— World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) September 26, 2023
With the big show returning in person this year, there are some big plans ahead. This announcement is the first in a while and it’s making a big splash for good reason. Metzen is set to present with the team at the con and share what they’ve been working on since his return.
Metzen himself commented on X (Twitter) after the news broke about his new title and teased upcoming announcements.
“It’s been amazing working on Warcraft again. Like coming home. The stories we’re developing right now – how the world unfolds over the next few years… Well, I can’t wait for y’all to see where we’re headed.
SOON… :)”
This news comes about nine months after Metzen originally announced a return to Blizzard to work on the Warcraft franchise as Creative Advisor. He had left Blizzard and officially retired back in 2016, later starting a tabletop company. In that return announcement, Blizzard said that “Chris’s focus initially will be on World of Warcraft, then his work will expand to other projects across this growing franchise”, so today’s announcement is still in line with this.
We'll have to wait until BlizzCon arrives to find out more, but the event will start on Friday November 3rd, which is 38 days away.