Chris Metzen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Chris Metzen
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Metzen at the 2009 BlizzCon
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| Born |
Christopher Vincent Metzen
November 22, 1973 |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1993–2016 2022–present |
| Employer | Warchief Gaming Blizzard Entertainment |
| Title | Executive Creative Director |
| Spouse(s) |
Kat Hunter
(m. 2013) |
| Children | 3 |
Christopher Vincent Metzen (born November 22, 1973) is an American game designer, artist, voice actor, and author. He is famous for creating the stories and worlds for many popular video games from Blizzard Entertainment. These include the well-known series Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft.
Metzen first joined Blizzard Entertainment as an animator and artist. His very first project was the video game Justice League Task Force. He later became the Senior Vice President of Story and Franchise Development at Blizzard. He also lent his voice to many characters, especially the orc character Thrall. Metzen retired in September 2016 to spend more time with his family. However, he returned to Blizzard in December 2022 as a creative advisor. By September 2023, he became the executive creative director for the Warcraft universe.
Contents
Chris Metzen's Journey in Game Design
Starting at Blizzard Entertainment
Chris Metzen began his career in game design after applying to Blizzard Entertainment. At that time, the company was called Chaos Studios. A friend suggested he apply after seeing a cool napkin doodle of a dragon Chris had drawn. He was quickly hired, even though he didn't fully know what Blizzard did. He thought it was a graphic design studio, not a video game developer.
Early Game Projects
Metzen's first job at Blizzard was working on the game Justice League Task Force. He created artwork and character animations for it. Around the same time, he also helped with the 1994 game Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. For this game, he worked on artwork, illustrations, and the game's instruction manual.
Later, Metzen's role in creating Warcraft games grew a lot. With Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness in 1995, he got to help build the game's fantasy world. He also designed many of the game's levels and missions.
Creating New Worlds: Diablo and StarCraft
In 1996, Blizzard launched its second big game series, Diablo. This was a role-playing game. Chris Metzen, along with David Brevik and Bill Roper, helped create Diablo's fictional world. Metzen also did some voice acting for characters in the game. He continued to provide voices for many later video games.
In 1998, he became the lead designer for the science fiction real-time strategy game StarCraft. With James Phinney, Metzen wrote the game's detailed story and script. He also helped organize the voice acting for the game. In 1999, Metzen wrote a short story called Revelations set in the StarCraft universe. It was published in Amazing Stories magazine.
Continuing the Saga: Diablo II and Warcraft III
Metzen returned to the Diablo series in 2000 for Diablo II. He worked on the game's story, script, and artwork. In 2001, he wrote a novel called Of Blood and Honor, which was set in the Warcraft world.
For Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos in 2002, Metzen was the creative director. This meant he guided the overall creative vision. He also developed the game's story idea and script. He held this role for all of Blizzard's later video games. His work on the 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft included script writing, artwork, and voice work.
Other Creative Projects
In 2005, Metzen announced he was working on a graphic novel series called Soldier: 76. This series was not connected to Blizzard Entertainment. It was set during a second American civil war in 2010. The story explored themes of terror threats and changes in government power. Chris Metzen wrote the script, and Max Velati did the illustrations. The character Soldier: 76 later appeared in Overwatch, Blizzard's online first-person shooter game, released in May 2016.
Chris Metzen also teamed up with author Flint Dille and artist Livio Ramondelli. They created a 12-part digital comic series called Transformers: Autocracy. This series was published by IDW Publishing in 2012. It focused on the time just before the Great War in the Transformers universe. The series showed the Decepticons as a strong force causing trouble. It followed Orion Pax, an Autobot commander trying to stop them. Transformers: Autocracy was later released as a collected book. It was followed by Transformers: Monstrosity in 2013 and Transformers: Primacy in 2014.
Retirement and Return
Chris Metzen had a small role in the 2016 Warcraft movie. He played a perfume seller in the city of Stormwind. On September 12, 2016, Metzen announced he was retiring from Blizzard Entertainment. He had been with the company for almost 23 years.
However, he returned to voice Thrall in the "Safe Haven" video in May 2019. He also voiced Thrall in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth. Metzen voiced the Dragon-King Avizandum in the third season of the Netflix animated series The Dragon Prince. He voiced Thrall again in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands.
Blizzard announced Metzen's return to the company in December 2022. He came back as a creative advisor for the Warcraft games. His role was planned to expand to other Blizzard games in the future. In September 2023, it was announced that Chris Metzen became the Executive Creative Director for the entire Warcraft universe.
Chris Metzen's Personal Life and Artistic Influences
Early Interests and Inspirations
Chris Metzen started creating comics when he was twelve years old. But he had been interested in drawing since he was at least six. He was a big fan of Dungeons & Dragons. Metzen says that the Dragonlance series of novels and Star Wars were his main inspirations. These stories helped him create his own fantasy and science fiction worlds. He also looks up to fantasy and comic book artists like Walt Simonson and Keith Parkinson for artistic ideas.
Artistic Style
Metzen describes his drawing style as being "heavily influenced" by the drawing styles of Walt Simonson and Jim Lee. He likes their way of drawing shapes and forms. He also prefers the "costuming, themes and general feel" of fantasy paintings by Larry Elmore and Keith Parkinson.
Voice Over Roles
Chris Metzen has lent his voice to many characters in video games and television shows.
Video Games
- Diablo – Leoric
- StarCraft – Marine, Battlecruiser, Ghost
- Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos – Thrall
- Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne – Thrall, Vol'jin
- World of Warcraft – Thrall, Vol'jin, Orcs, Archaedas, Ragnaros, Nefarian, Vaelastrasz the Corrupt, Bloodlord Mandokir, Hakkar the Soulflayer, Jin'do the Hexxer
- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade – Thrall, Zul'jin
- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King – Thrall, Vol'jin, Varian Wrynn, Dranosh Saurfang
- StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Marine, Battlecruiser, Tauren Marine
- World of Warcraft: Cataclysm – Thrall, Vol'jin, Varian Wrynn, Ragnaros, Nefarian, Bloodlord Mandokir, Jin'do the Godbreaker, Hakkar the Soulflayer
- World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria – Thrall, Arcanital Mara'kah, Captain Halu'kal, Nalak the Storm Lord, War-God Jalak
- Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm – Marine, Battlecruiser
- Hearthstone – Thrall, Various minions
- World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor – Thrall, Varian Wrynn, Supreme Lord Kazzak
- Heroes of the Storm – Thrall, Varian Wrynn, Imperius
- StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void – Marine, Battlecruiser
- World of Warcraft: Legion – Thrall, Varian Wrynn, Beliash, Duke Hydraxis
- Overwatch – Bastion
- World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth – Thrall
- World of Warcraft: Shadowlands – Thrall, Hakkar the Soulflayer, Varian Wrynn
- Warcraft III: Reforged – Thrall, Vol'jin
- Overwatch 2 – Bastion
- World of Warcraft: Dragonflight – Thrall, Archaedas
- World of Warcraft: The War Within – Thrall, Archaedas
Television
- The Dragon Prince – Avizandum / Thunder
- Mech Strike Monster Hunters: The Eye of Doom – Doctor Doom
See also
In Spanish: Chris Metzen para niños
