Chris Metzen Returns to Blizzard Full-Time as Warcraft’s Executive Creative Director

Late last year, Blizzard Entertainment announced that Chris Metzen, the legendary designer, writer, and voice actor behind some of the studio’s best games, was coming back to the studio as a creative adviser. Today, the two took things one step further, announcing that Metzen is now returning to full-time work as the executive creative director for the Warcraft universe. That means Metzen will be overseeing the World of Warcraft team as it “craft[s] the next generation of adventures.” With World of Warcraft likely ramping up to its next expansion, Metzen is coming back to the full-time fold at a pivotal time for the franchise.

What’s Next For World of Warcraft?

As you’d expect, the initial announcement doesn’t include any details about what exactly Metzen and the team are working on. Instead, it told fans that they would showcase the first fruits of this partnership at BlizzCon. The semi-annual event is scheduled to take place on the weekend of November 3, 2023, and will likely give fans the first details about the new expansion. After all, the hype for it is already starting to ramp up even with Patch 10.2 still on the horizon. Either way, it seems even more likely that before that one of Blizzard’s big talking points at the event will be the ninth expansion for World of Warcraft.

At this point, we don’t really have any idea what that expansion could be. There were rumors that it might be pirate-themed after Blizzard dropped a new bundle in the item store, but those rumors were quickly squashed by Blizzard’s president. Potentially, we could see Thrall back as a major character with Metzen back at the helm. Not only did Metzen create the character but he also provided his voice. Another character he voiced, Vol’jin, was on the verge of reincarnation during Shadowlands, making him someone else who could be back in a major way with Metzen leading the charge. Regardless, BlizzCon is sure to be an exciting time for World of Warcraft fans.

Could Blizzard Make Warcraft 4?

The last important thing to note about this announcement is that Blizzard refers to Metzen as the executive creative director “of the Warcraft universe.” While far from confirmation, fans have been begging for Warcraft 4 for decades now. The long-running strategy series was largely abandoned when World of Warcraft became such a massive hit, but Blizzard did release Warcraft 3: Reforged a few years ago. That release was troubled by all kinds of issues, but with Metzen back and Blizzard not limiting his role to World of Warcraft, it does seem like a possibility.

That said, even if Blizzard is working on a new real-time strategy game, it’s probably a very low priority for the team right now. The genre is no longer a major seller, and Blizzard does still have the Starcraft franchise to work with if it wants a new real-time strategy title. Metzen being with the team full-time makes Warcraft 4 feel more possible, but only just.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is available now on PC. BlizzCon kicks off on November 3, and fans will want to tune in to see what’s next from Metzen and the rest of the WoW team.