It has been four years since Chris Metzen stepped away from his role as Blizzard’s Senior Vice President of Story and Franchise Development, but it seems the former VP has been keeping busy, quietly kickstarting a career in tabletop games with Warchief Gaming. Metzen had been with Blizzard for two decades prior to his departure and was instrumental in bringing gamers some of the studio’s most iconic franchises, like StarCraft, Diablo, and World of Warcraft. The former video game designer has recently opened up about new plans for his tabletop company, Warchief Gaming, which he founded with fellow ex-Blizzard executive Mike Gilmartin.

The two Blizzard veterans are not the first to break away from the gaming giant in order to start up a new, independent venture. Just last week, Tim Campbell and Tim Morton revealed they had founded Frost Giant Studios in order to craft innovative real-time strategy games. The two were key members of Blizzard before they left, with Campbell acting as the campaign director for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and Morton as Blizzard’s production director. A month before that announcement, a handful of one-time Blizzard employees - including co-founder and former CEO of the company Mike Morhaime - formed a new studio called Dreamhaven.

Warchief Gaming was initially founded two years ago as a tabletop game club in which Metzen and his friends could relax and simply enjoy the hobby, however, Metzen and Gilmartin announced Warchief Gaming as a tabletop game designer in an announcement video today. The designers also spoke with VentureBeat about the company’s plans to begin developing tabletop games as well. According to Metzen, the club was initially a way for him to revive after years of intense pressure at a huge gaming corporation. Though he expresses gratitude for being able to work on so many important projects in the past, he is also candid that being responsible for a large team and huge decisions could be extremely stressful.


It seems like the small team and "intimate scale" of Warchief Gaming is very attractive to the former VP. Now that tabletop gaming has gotten those creative juices flowing again, Metzen explains he and Gilmartin are ready to take Warchief Gaming beyond its current state. The company will begin to develop its own IP, while continuing to focus on serving the club’s community and enriching its services. To this end, the duo have brought on Ryan Collins, who worked on Hearthstone at Blizzard, as Warchief’s lead product developer.

This year has seen a host of Blizzard team members split off, many to pursue individual careers or found new companies. Though it is impossible to say for sure, it may be related to a rash of disquieting news coming out about things like worker mistreatment and wage disparity. Whatever prompted these designers to leave, hopefully the fresh projects will excite both creators and gamers alike. Warchief Gaming has not announced anything specific about its next project, but news is sure to come in the near future.