The legendary co-creator of 'Warcraft,' 'Diablo,' and 'StarCraft' is retiring at age 42

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Chris Metzen

Metzen's retirement was announced internally to Blizzard employees late Monday afternoon, Business Insider has learned. He was with the company for 21 years, seeing it go from a small startup to a global mega-power in video games.

Metzen is best known to fans of Blizzard's games, which recently expanded to the smash-hit shooter "Overwatch," as the man in charge of the games' overall story.

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In 1996, Metzen co-created the universe of the smash-hit "Diablo" with ex-Blizzard designer Bill Roper. He also contributed to the setting and designs of games including "Warcraft" and its sequel. In 1998, Roper was the lead designer of the smash-hit "StarCraft."

Since 2002, Metzen served as creative director on many of Blizzard's games, and contributed writing and artwork to "World of Warcraft." Metzen also consulted with director Duncan Jones on the the "Warcraft" movie, released just this summer. He also made a cameo in that same film.

Blizzard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.