World of Warcraft, and Blizzard Entertainment as a whole, is receiving a very much-needed boost to their development team. Longtime Blizzard veteran Chris Metzen, who is considered one of the greatest creative minds in the video game industry, is returning to the company. This will be Metzen’s second official stint with the company since he departed back in 2016. Metzen’s official role will be put on the Warcraft Leadership Team as Creative Advisor, and eventually, all of his input will “expand to other projects across this growing franchise.”

Wow, Blizzard veteran Chris Metzen, one of the company’s top creative developers up until his resignation in 2016, is returning to the Warcraft team: https://t.co/zCexZD6wT3

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) December 15, 2022

Metzen’s work at Blizzard has been well-documented over the years and is credited as one of the most important key figures in the company’s history. Metzen started at Blizzard in 1993 as an artwork and animation developer on Justice League Taskforce before contributing to Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, making him one of the first employees in the company to work on the storied franchise. His role was heavily elevated in 1995 when Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness was released, as he began to work on the overarching fictional universe as well as the art designs.

From there Metzen, along with fellow creator David Brevik, would establish both the Diablo and StarCraft franchise, with Metzen being the lead designer of the latter. Both series have gone on to be widely acclaimed and firmly established Blizzard Entertainment as an international powerhouse in the gaming industry. Metzen has also done a lot of voice work in his projects as well, with the most famous being Thrall from the Warcraft franchise. This has caused the Blizzard fanbase to give Metzen the nickname “Warchief.”

In September 2016, Metzen announced that after being with Blizzard for 23 years, he was departing the company. He made a surprise appearance at BlizzCon 2018, where we were able to meet him for a few minutes, which was an exciting experience, to say the least. After that, Blizzard brought him back to work with voice acting, for Thrall specifically in World of Warcraft. Now in 2022, Metzen is back full-time, as World of Warcraft has not been having the greatest year. Blizzard also did just release the Dragonflight expansion, which has helped the series a bit, but as 2023 looms around the corner, Metzen’s input will become crucial for the franchise’s foreseeable future.