World of Warcraft producer says Chris Metzen sometimes wishes Blizzard hadn’t called it Warcraft because ‘it sounds intimidating,’ and some fans are not taking it well

There are few bigger franchises in the games industry than Warcraft. From an RTS that ushered in Blizzard as a game industry powerhouse to one of the world’s most dominant and enduring MMOs, with various sequels, spinoffs, and multimedia crossovers along the way, Warcraft has grown over the past 30-plus years into one of the biggest, most reliable, and most recognizable names in the business. It is, by every measure (well, except that movie) an unmitigated success.

And apparently, Chris Metzen, the executive creative director of the Warcraft universe, sometimes wishes it had a different name.

This interesting spot of trivia came out of a recent Game Business interview with World of Warcraft vice president and executive producer Holly Longdale and game director Ion Hazzikostas (via GamesRadar), in which Longdale expressed a desire to do more with Warcraft, beginning with broadening its appeal.

“It’s a fantastic IP,” Longdale sale. “In my humble opinion, it’s been underutilized and I just want to bring it to as many people as possible. And that means evolving what Warcraft means, what it is, and where it’s going.

“We want it to be approachable. Chris Metzen is sometimes like, ‘I wish we hadn’t called it Warcraft. It sounds intimidating’.”

For her part, Longdale doesn’t necessarily agree, continuing, “Nobody really thinks that about Warhammer. It’s an understood name.”

Right off the bat: I don’t think Metzen (or anyone at Blizzard) is being too serious when they express regrets about the Warcraft name. It’s like saying, ‘I wish we hadn’t called it Ferrari, it sounds too Italian’—it might work as a frustrated joke while the marketing team is trying to figure out how to make inroads into new markets in South America, but is anyone seriously suggesting, yeah, bad name bro, you really blew it on that one? I don’t think so.

Which basically comes back to Longdale’s point. Fears that the title might put people off are, well, off, because it’s not intimidating, it’s one of the world’s most famous videogame brands. Whomst amongst us says, “Ooh, Warcraft? Don’t like the sounds of that one bit!” No one: If you were literally born the year after Warcraft: Orcs and Humans came out, sorry to say it but you’re 31 now and you have at the very least heard of Warcraft, and likely played it in some form or other. And if you were 31 when Warcraft: Orcs and Humans came out, well, I’m even sorrier to point this out but you’re 63 now and not the target audience anyway.

We should also bear in mind that, in terms of names at least, Warcraft is probably the least intimidating thing about a game that stars characters like Grommash Hellscream, Orgrim Doomhammer, Nekros Skullcrusher, and (to pick one who isn’t an orc, they have all the cool names), Lord Victor Nefarius, eldest son of Deathwing and his Prime Consort Sintharia.

Even though, as I said, I don’t think any of this should be taken too seriously—for me, it lands more like Longdale telling a funny story to make a point—some people absolutely are taking it too seriously, particularly on X, where a contingent of gamers are wringing their hands about Warcraft getting soft or forgetting its roots or whatever.

Others, however, point out that Warcraft has always been sort of a big tent: Dark and grim, yes, but also the little guy says “zug zug” when you click on him, and they’ll even drop some gag lines if you keep it up. As PC Gamer’s Robin Valentine said a few years ago, “That’s worldbuilding.”

And that too is central to Longdale’s point: Not that Blizzard wants to change Warcraft, but that it wants more people to discover what it’s always been. “We want people to come in, hang out and have birthdays, weddings, raids, grand adventures, play with their friends, meet new friends… all the things that World of Warcraft has been good at for over 20 years,” Longdale said. “And at the same time, we want to take advantage of 20 years of stories that have been told and not told, and start bringing it out to the world in a broader way. That’s my goal and vision.”

This little kerfuffle aside, life’s been good for Warcraft fans recently: The new housing system added in the World of Warcraft: Midnight expansion is a big hit, and Blizzard is looking to do even more with it in the future.