The director of Warcraft, John Hight, has taken to the internet with an interview that reveals his point of view on many things about Blizzard Entertainment, including third-party licensing and a future for it.
GDC 2024 has neatly wrapped as of last week, and with that, there is a lot of news surrounding the gaming industry that has been unleashed on the industry. Warcraft Boss, John Hight sat down for an interview with IGN and discussed potential directions for the mega-franchise. The 2016 film Warcraft (of the same name) was brought up, and Hight mentioned the company could be in the market for new partners on a potential return to film if the “right situation” presented itself.
Hight said, “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 enamoured 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” regarding the Warcraft series, and how the team working with the IP want to delve into filmmaking. He continued “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.”
He then mentioned how leveraging the Warcraft IP into a film setting would be an exciting prospect, saying he would be “Certainly open to people who really get it and have a cool idea about how to express Warcraft and if we feel like aesthetically, they’re going to be able to hit the bar,” regarding a potential partnership where Warcraft can become more than a video game. Hight mentioned potential partners could be slim by saying, “But I think there’s some benefit in leveraging other companies that share our love for it, have a really cool idea, share our belief in quality and have the ability to execute on it. But now that’s probably a pretty small list, right?”
While there is some excitement surrounding the Warcraft IP and the direction it can go in, according to Director John Hight, they’re still a ways off from securing any potential partners for other forms of media in the immediate future. Fans can head to the IGN GDC 2024 interview for more information on the topic.
