As if Blizzard wasn’t doing enough to promote the upcoming Warcraft movie (which is going to be coming out this June), they’ve now decided to hold a giveaway, that people that go to see the Warcraft movie will be getting a free copy of World of Warcraft, and new players will also be getting a free month of game time.
Blockbuster movies like Warcraft are normally tied to some form of tie-in content, such as when Star Wars: Battlefront came out with a series of maps on the planet Jakku, one of the major locations in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Depending on the success of the movie, it can turn out well, or horribly.
Blizzard seems to be hoping that the Warcraft movie will stimulate interest in World of Warcraft from new players, after World of Warcraft had previously lost a large number of subscribers. This, coupled with the upcoming release of the newest expansion pack, Legion, at the end of August, seems like Blizzard’s going for a double-whammy.
The fact that currently World of Warcraft is available for 20 dollars with every piece of content (including every expansion) is another positive promotion effect.
Blizzard also isn’t relying just on a free copy of World of Warcraft to persuade people to go see the movie: from May 25 to August 1, players that log in to World of Warcraft will receive a new transmogrification (which will make your gear look different but don’t actually change their stats) that are similar to a shield and sword from the movie.
The Warcraft movie, while not taking place in World of Warcraft (it instead takes place during the time period when the orcs first arrived in Azeroth and fought a war with the human kingdoms), is still a hotly-anticipated film that Blizzard notably turned Uwe Boll down in making.
The fact that Blizzard is now making the movie themselves probably serves as another slap in the face to him, especially since Blizzard told him, to his face, that they would never consider selling the rights to him. Especially not to him.
