Blizzard’s lord of lore (and sunglasses), Chris Metzen, is retiring from video games.
Metzen is primarily known for two things: 1) giving speeches at BlizzCon that would put most video game characters to shame, and 2) helping mold the worlds of obscure games called Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Overwatch. One could also argue that he’s Blizzard’s daddest dad to ever dad, tied only with Overwatch’s Soldier 76, a character Metzen himself created.
In a lengthy forum post, Metzen explained why he’s stepping away from all the wars and stars he helped craft:
“The reason I use the word ‘retire’ is because I’m not going to some other company or starting up new projects or anything remotely like that. It’s been a long, amazing stretch of years. Now it’s time to slow it down. Rest. Lay around on the couch and get fat. Well, fatter...”
“Seriously though, I’ll be focusing on the one thing that matters most to me in all the world—my family. They’re the core of my life and the source of my deepest joy and inspiration. In addition to raising our two little ones, we recently welcomed our new baby into the family! Being home with them all, having time and space to really live…to love my wife with all my strength…that’s my career now.”
So for now, he’s retired-retired, as opposed to, say, joining Rob Pardo’s new company.
Speaking personally, it’s bittersweet to see him go. His stories weren’t always amazing, but you could never accuse the man of lacking enthusiasm. He helped build the worlds that shaped my imagination as a kid. I constructed (terrible) StarCraft levels by day and drew WarCraft characters by night. I was obsessed. I doubt I’d be working for Kotaku today if not for the influence of Blizzard games and worlds on my impressionable young mind. Thanks for that, Mr Metzen, and good luck.