Blizzard set the standard for RTS and MMO storytelling a long time ago, but that didn't seem particularly evident in the 2016 film Warcraft. But that doesn't mean franchise director Jon Hite has completely abandoned the idea of making the film again; at GDC he told IGN that the concept would "certainly be interesting" but with some serious caveats.

As video game adaptations go, "Warcraft" wasn't particularly terrible. The respect for the source material (primarily the original RTS "Warcraft") was certainly palpable: orcs and humans. in 1994, Blizzard didn't care much about storytelling, but that wasn't until "Warcraft 2" and didn't get it right until "Warcraft 3. Blizzard had fleshed out the events of the original game tremendously since its inception, but no amount of lore could make up for the film's formulaic script.

Hite believes that a second try might be worthwhile, but that Blizzard should not get into the filmmaking business. 'We make games, and I think games will always be at the core of what we do.'

If Blizzard is going to allow a sequel or an entirely new film adaptation, they need to find the right partner. Hight said, "If they really understand Warcraft, have cool ideas about how to represent Warcraft, and we feel we can get over the hurdles aesthetically, we're certainly open." That partner would have to be good at adapting the game, which Hight admits is fairly new territory. He is still positive, however, because "we want to get Warcraft out there a little more than it is now."

The goal would be to "leverage other companies that share our love of Warcraft, have really cool ideas, share our belief in quality, and have the ability to do it. But that's a pretty small list now, isn't it?

While it sounds clever on paper, it's not as if the 2016 "Warcraft" movie was the product of people and companies that had no interest in the series. Director and co-writer Duncan Jones was already a fan, and Blizzard was not sitting on its hands. In other words, finding the right people does not guarantee success.

That said, I probably wouldn't be keen to try again. Although the Warcraft saga is quite derivative, it has many fascinating stories and characters. It is also a derivative work, which is generally considered a derogatory term, but derivative works are not necessarily bad. Arthas' downfall and rebirth as the Lich King is hardly original, but it is still one of my favorite video game stories. I would definitely see it in a movie theater.