Blizzard Is Open to More Warcraft Movies, But Doesn't Want to be a Filmmaker

ign.com:

Warcraft franchise director John Hight says he loves the 2016 film Warcraft. It’d be silly of him to tell me he doesn’t, given his job. But in a world where it seems like every major gaming IP is going ham on multimedia, Hight differs notably from his fellows in one major way: he doesn’t want to be a filmmaker.

Speaking to IGN at the Game Developers’ Conference in March, we asked Hight about the potential for future Warcraft movies. Though he admitted the idea would “certainly be interesting,” he added that he didn’t think Blizzard should explicitly get into the filmmaking business. “We make games and I think that games will always be our core, and so Warcraft will be centered around that,” he said.

And more than just Blizzard, Hight himself doesn’t want to get caught up in thinking he needs to jump into a different industry. “I don't want to fall into the trap of ‘I will be a filmmaker now.’ I think leave that to the folks that really know what they're doing.”

“If we can find talent in other areas doing media that have that shared love and passion for Warcraft, absolutely. But I think I've seen, unfortunately, some of my colleagues get enamored with the idea of becoming filmmakers and leveraging the opportunity that they have in owning the IP or controlling the IP to be an entry into filmmaking. But there are so many professionals who have been doing this for so many years, [and] there could be dozens if not a hundred films that can execute so much better. I wouldn't have somebody that only made movies come in and try and build a game like Warcraft, right? So I think finding those partnerships is the right approach.”

Hight feels the same way about other video games. I mention companies like Riot, who have licensed out the League of Legends IP to multiple other indie studios to make more games out of it – though it’s a practice the publisher has notably wound down amid budget woes. Would Blizzard ever do the same? Again, Hight is interested, but understandably picky.

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