H&G: Blizzard's Pardo Talks WoW Film

Author: by Brandon Sheffield, Jolene Spry, Staff

Speaking at the Hollywood & Game 'Creating Parallel Community Experiences Between Films and MMOs' panel, Blizzard game design VP Rob Pardo talked about the company's partnership with film producer Legendary to produce the World of Warcraft film, and how it's ensuring 'the experience and feel of the IP is there.' Pardo, who is credited as World of Warcraft's lead game designer, noted on the panel that Blizzard is in the midst of expanding its IP in other media through novelizations, as well as the Legendary movie deal. Throughout the course of the panel, moderator and Multiverse Network executive producer Corey Bridges asked Pardo how, as lead designer, he would like to see the game translated into film. "I think it’s interesting both ways," said Pardo. "Any time you translate from one medium to another, you have to focus on what’s right for the medium. Even though Warcraft was our own IP, it was still being translated from a different gametype -- it was an RTS, which is very different from an MMO –- so even though it was our own IP, we still found ourselves handcuffing ourselves to certain conventions that made sense for a strategy game, but didn’t make sense for a MMO." "You have to stay true to the IP," he continued, "but you can’t be hamstrung by the details. You have to have a strong partnership though – that’s what’s happening with us and Legendary. Before we even did a deal we had to find a group that would do something we all could be proud of." Pardo concluded that Legendary seemed a natural fit not just for their previous film experience, but from a deeper common bond: "We got a real good sense that they had a certain amount of geek to them, as we all do. We’re supplying quite a bit in terms of story and script development. We’re concentrating on the world and making sure that the experience and feel of the IP is there."