In a candid 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 Universal adaptation of Activision Blizzard's Warcraft. Kotick described it as "one of the worst movies I've ever seen," suggesting that the film had a detrimental impact on the development of World of Warcraft. He viewed the movie as a significant distraction for the development team, contributing to the departure of veteran designer Chris Metzen in 2016.

Kotick praised Metzen, calling him "the heart and soul of creativity of the company." He explained that the movie project, which was already signed before Activision acquired Blizzard, consumed considerable resources and distracted the team. Kotick noted that the development of World of Warcraft expansions and patches suffered as a result, with delays and missed deadlines becoming common.

The Warcraft movie, despite its domestic underperformance with a mere $47 million in North America, achieved international success, particularly in China, becoming the most successful video game adaptation of all time temporarily. Overall, it grossed $439 million but was considered a failure by Legendary Pictures due to its high budget.

Kotick mentioned that Metzen took the movie's failure personally, leading to his departure to start a boardgame company. Kotick later "begged" Metzen to return to Blizzard as a consultant. Upon his return, Metzen was critical of the plans for the next two expansions, suggesting they needed a complete overhaul.

Despite limited interaction after Metzen's return, Kotick acknowledged his significant contributions to the last expansion, which received a glowing 9/10 in our World of Warcraft The War Within review. Kotick expressed confidence in the upcoming expansion, praising Metzen's influence. Our review hailed the last expansion 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."