Former Activision Blizzard Boss Bobby Kotick Slams Warcraft Film, Calls It 'One of the Worst Movies I've Ever Seen'

Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick slammed the 2016 Warcraft film adaptation as "one of the worst movies I've ever seen" in a recent interview with Grit. Kotick, who helmed Activision Blizzard for 32 years before his departure in December 2023, attributed the film's negative impact to resource diversion and creative team distraction, ultimately contributing to the departure of key designer Chris Metzen in 2016.

Kotick described Metzen as the "heart and soul of creativity" at Blizzard, highlighting his burnout as a consequence of the film's production. He stated that the film, a pre-existing agreement before Activision's acquisition, consumed significant resources and pulled developers away from their core game development duties. The resulting delays in World of Warcraft expansions and patches, coupled with the film's poor quality, significantly impacted the company.

Despite the film's international success, grossing $439 million globally (though failing to recoup its substantial budget), its domestic performance was weak, earning only $47 million in North America. Kotick revealed that Metzen took the film's failure personally, leading to his departure to establish a board game company. Kotick later attempted to persuade Metzen to return as a consultant, but Metzen expressed dissatisfaction with the planned expansions, advocating for complete overhauls.

While Kotick acknowledged limited post-return interaction with Metzen, emphasizing his desire to allow Metzen creative freedom, he credited Metzen's influence on the subsequent World of Warcraft expansion, describing it as "excellent," and expressing confidence in the quality of the next. This latest expansion received high praise, scoring a 9/10 in our World of Warcraft The War Within review, where it was lauded as a revitalizing experience for the long-running MMO.