The return has been celebrated far and wide.

Blizzard announced yesterday that Chris Metzen, an industry veteran that worked on Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo as a designer, has returned to the company. This follows a several year long hiatus away from the company.

General manager of all things Warcraft John High announced that Chris Metzen has rejoined the Warcraft Leadership Team as Creative Advisor. The announcement, as brief as it is, was made on the official World of Warcraft website. Metzen's initial focus will be on World of Warcraft but it will expand to other projects as time goes on.


Metzen parted ways from Blizzard in 2016. He was with the studio for almost 23-years at that point, having been one of the key figures that helped bring the Warcraft universe to life. During his time at Blizzard, Metzen also served as creative director on projects like Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, created Soldier 76 in Overwatch, and is the voice of Thrall, one of the most iconic characters in Warcraft.

Following his departure from Blizzard, Metzen created Warchief Gaming in 2020. This was a tabletop focused gaming company. Warchief Gaming's first release, Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent, was released in 2021.

World of Warcraft fans have largely celebrated Metzen's return to the franchise. They are happy that their Thrall is back. They are happy that someone who was instrumental in working on World of Warcraft in its "peak" days is back. Fortunately for everyone, it seems as though Metzen was one of the "good ones" of the old guard at Blizzard. As far as we're aware, Metzen was not any of the known harassers within Blizzard Entertainment. Still, he did issue an apology to everyone for failing to be more attentive and failing to just do more to help.