The history of Chris Metzen, the man behind the Warcraft franchise

Building on the foundations of the Warcraft franchise, the MMORPG game we know today as World of Warcraft was set for success from the moment it launched in 2004. Expectedly, the game took the world by storm, and 18 years later, with the release of Dragonflight on Nov. 28, it’s still topping the charts.

Although WoW has established itself as the ultimate MMORPG game and the true founder of the genre, the game wouldn’t be as successful if it weren’t for the Warcraft franchise, and one of the world’s greatest creative directors, artists, writers, designers, and voice actors, Chris Metzen.

Leaving Blizzard Entertainment in September 2016, Blizzard lost a great and dedicated employee who only looked out for the best interest of the players. Thankfully, the company revealed on Dec. 15 that Metzen is returning to Blizzard as a creative advisor. As one of the core members of the WoW team, Metzen will initially focus on WoW, and only later will his work expand to other projects as well. If you’re out of the loop and don’t know a lot about Blizzard’s newest addition to the team, Chris Metzen, here’s a quick recap on who Chirs Metzen is, his most important work, and all his contributions to WoW and Warcraft.

Who is Chris Metzen?

Joining Blizzard Entertainment in 1993, Chris Metzen quickly became a core part of the team working on Warcraft. He began his Warcraft career with Warcraft: Orcs and Humans by doing artwork, illustrations, and the game’s documentation. 

Quickly noticing Metzen’s value as a member of the Warcraft team, with Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, he was able to contribute more to the game by developing the Warcraft universe and lore around it. With the release of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos in 2002, Metzen became the creative director, a role which he would keep until he quit in 2016.

Over the course of years, Chris Metzen was an integral part of the WoW team, working as a creative lead on the team. Although the final expansion he worked on before leaving Blizzard was Battle for Azeroth, he made a return in Shadowlands to continue to voice Thrall.

Aside from Warcraft, Metzen borrowed his voice for characters in Diablo, became the design lead for StarCraft, and worked on Diablo II’s story, script, and artwork. Other than that, Metzen wrote graphic novels, and comic series, and continued to voice iconic WoW characters like Thrall, Vol’jin, and Varian Wrynn.