World of Warcraft finds a house at AFC Divisional Playoffs

Blizzard Entertainment seems like the precise firm for this activation, as a result of a flurry of exercise is underway to make it occur for the AFC Divisional Round sport that includes Texans-Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

Blizzard is selling an upcoming enlargement for its flagship sport, World of Warcraft, with a tailgate-like activation. But as an alternative of vehicles and pickups, it’s utilizing a comfortable tavern from the large on-line role-playing sport to advertise the addition of participant housing in March 2’s World of Warcraft: Midnight enlargement. This is the primary time Blizzard has used a professional sports activities occasion to advertise any of its video games, although it has labored with the Lakers’ Luka Dončić for Overwatch 2 earlier this yr and a Washington faculty soccer sport in 2024.

“Who doesn’t want a cozy, pregame tavern in absolutely frigid Boston?” mentioned Blizzard Entertainment CMO Monica Austin, who little question has her eye on the climate forecast (34 levels with a 30% probability of snow at kickoff as of this report), because the tavern’s construction and varied different parts of the activation are nonetheless in transit to Foxoboro. “We couldn’t feel stronger about this opportunity. It’s a huge media moment. We want to be there, connecting with our fans.”

While planning and growth had been happening for months, the World of Warcraft: Welcome Home Pre-Game Tavern promotion got here collectively rapidly as soon as Blizzard knew the placement of AFC Divisional Round video games. Blizzard and its company, Havas Media Network, labored with the NFL and the Patriots on this promotion. Austin mentioned they didn’t know in the event that they’d be in Colorado or Massachusetts till Monday.

“We knew we wanted this game,” Austin mentioned. “From a timing lens [World of Warcraft is getting a pre-expansion patch soon], this was the perfect timing. The NFL has a massive crossover with our players. Once we knew there was going to be a divisional game and confirmed the buy with Havas, then it was a waiting game to see who was going to be playing and where.”

From Azeroth to your private home

Austin mentioned they’d been constructing the tavern on the West Coast (Blizzard’s HQ is Anaheim, Calif.) for “months and months” and had been scouting out places in Denver and the better Boston space “for a couple weeks now.”

The tavern will sit exterior Gillette Stadium in Patriot Place, and Austin mentioned she expects “200 to 300-plus” visiting the tavern, although she additionally mentioned one other 50,000 to 80,000 individuals will “get exposure” to the tavern as they enter the stadium.

Inside, guests can seize a drink, watch a livestream for World of Warcraft (which incorporates an Epic Edition giveaway for the Midnight enlargement) and work together with influencers and cosplayers, together with a number of dressed as orcs (they’ll be roaming the stands through the sport as properly). It runs 11 a.m. to three p.m. ET earlier than kickoff. Austin additionally mentioned Blizzard is working with actual property agency Zillow for the primary time and will likely be utilizing Sunday’s occasion to tease their relationship.

Housing could also be a function which will come throughout as trivial to the informal reader however is critical for gamers, who’ve been asking for it for the reason that sport launched in 2004. Player housing is a staple in on-line RPGs going again to the times of Ultima Online.

Players have been requesting participant housing “forever,” Austin mentioned.

An epic crossover

While the NFL could have little to do with housing (properly, apart from having a “home” crew), Blizzard’s analysis has seen a big crossover between professional soccer followers and the denizens of Azeroth (the setting for World of Warcraft). “We’ve done a tremendous amount of deep dives to understand who are our players, lapsed and active? One of the things we see consistently is that our players are over-indexed in watching sports. And for the NFL, it’s top-three over-indexing sport.

“We know our players are there. We know they’re watching. This is a strategic way that we want to use to reach them.”

Is this NFL promotion additionally a strategy to construct on 2025’s faculty soccer activation at Washington or the Dončić occasion for Overwatch 2? Or ought to the gaming business count on Blizzard — and others — to market extra than simply league-licensed video video games at sports activities occasions?

“Everything is a test and learn. Everything we do on the marketing side is something we want to learn from and continue to accelerate. What we saw coming out of [those promotions] was that we have permission to show up at places like sports, where our fandom over-indexes, and we really want to lean into that, especially when we have a new expansion or a big new feature. You’re seeing this across the board with the partnership from Washington and the partnership with Luka Dončić, we’re working with the NFL now for World of Warcraft; it’s a mix of our ability to connect with players because we know they care about sports. We know there’s a big crossover with competition that bleeds through the game into these sports events as well.

“We also like working with partners that we can go further [with] and tell deeper stories. We’ll continue to do that, and hopefully, that continues to be in sports.”