Ex-Blizzard dev Chris Metzen unveils Warchief Gaming tabletop game company

Chris Metzen was the primary visionary at Blizzard Entertainment on games such as Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch. But toiling on games took a toll, and after 22 years, he left it all behind in 2016. Now, four years later, Metzen has recharged and is diving into tabletop games with Warchief Gaming.

The former Blizzard senior vice president is being joined by Mike Gilmartin, who recently left his role as vice president of quality assurance at Blizzard. If it seems like a lot of this is happening — people who worked there starting new game companies — you’re not imagining it. Former Blizzard president Mike Morhaime recently unveiled his game startup Dreamhaven, and former StarCraft production lead Tim Morten started Frost Giant Studios. But in contrast to those companies, Metzen and Gilmartin aren’t making video games. They’re going further back in time to their love of Dungeons & Dragons, and they’re hoping to contribute to the revival of offline tabletop games.