Chris Metzen announces retirement on B.net forums.

Possibly the one person that has had the single most influence on almost all of Blizzard's Major franchises has decided to retire from game related work to focus on spending time with his family

You may know Chris Metzen for his voice acting work (Thrall, Marine, Ghost, Battlecruiser, etc etc), or maybe you recognize him from his countless speeches and introductions at BlizzCon. What you might not know, is that Metzen is largely responsible for creating the Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft universes. He wrote the scripts, story and created many of the characters we know and love today.

He was even been responsible for the initial sparks of an idea that we now know, as Overwatch. Just look at his drawing of Solider: 76 made in 1996:

Today, on the Battle.net forums, a letter written by Metzen was posted by multiple community managers on behalf of Metzen. In it, he details his journey to where he is today, revealing his DND group as the only experience he had creating worlds prior to Blizzard. Just before he drops the retirement bomb, he thanks the fans of all of his universes for the experience he has had:

Thank you all for letting me be a special part of your community. For letting me belong with you. We’ve shared countless adventures together and I’ve always been overwhelmed and humbled by your passion for our games as well your commitment to each other. Thank you for all the BlizzCon hugs, smiles, handshakes, and stories over the years. You will never know how much you’ve all touched my heart and inspired me to give my all into this craft. ”

It is unclear who will take his place as Senior Vice President, Story and Franchise Development, but whoever does has some big shoes to fill.

Here is one of the best Metzen moments, just moments before he revealed Overwatch to the world for the first time during BlizzCon 2014:

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