A new scene from an inn in World of Warcraft is causing excitement – or some “cringe.” This is how a Warcraft live-action series could look.
What does the video show? The capital city of humans, Stormwind, featuring real actors. The city is filled with the hustle and bustle of the market as two heroes enter a tavern carrying a gnoll paw – they have apparently just slain the feared Hogger. The inn is populated with various Alliance races. Humans, dwarves, night elves, and high elves are sitting at the tables, discussing, laughing, or playing games.
The focus shifts to a warrior and a priestess. The warrior shares that he has “nightmares” of a world where humans lead “mundane lives.” They can’t cast spells and “instead of becoming shamans or death knights, they choose to become project managers or sales directors.”
The dialogue continues:
“They are ruled by powerful bosses who dominate them from giant glass towers. And no weapons are allowed.“
“And how are they supposed to kill the bosses?”
“They can’t! They can’t even get past middle management.“
The warrior continues describing his dream and that there would be no wonders in this “mundane world.” No legendary items, no dragons on whose backs one can fly.
“The only items of wonder are these little dark portals they carry around everywhere. They stare at them for hours and … scroll.”
“What a waste of time!”
The message of the advertisement is relatively clear: If real life is too monotonous, one can escape it and instead experience exciting hours in World of Warcraft as a mage, warrior, or paladin. A clear advertisement for the escapism that MMORPGs like WoW can offer.
While some viewers dismiss the video with a brief comment like “cringe,” the clip seems to have been received quite well by many. Under the video on YouTube, there are many comments praising the effort and expressing excitement about the production of the video.
- “This is exactly how the Warcraft movie should have been.”
- “If Warcraft movies had more heart than all the Hollywood productions of the last 20 years.”
- “This is really good, make more of it. People who call this cringe probably find everything cringe.”
- “Can you PLEASE announce a TV series with the two of them in the lead roles? :)”
Video sparks discussions about Blizzard scandals: However, the content of the video triggers discussions related to the scandals of recent years surrounding Blizzard.
Many see the comparison to the “bosses in their glass towers that one can never reach” as a reference to Bobby Kotick, the boss of Activision Blizzard. Many had demanded his resignation when the scandals came to light – yet he remains in office.
Additionally, many viewers perceive the protagonists of the clip mocking smartphones as almost cynical. A few years ago, Blizzard received a lot of criticism at BlizzCon when they confronted Diablo fans with the legendary phrase “Don’t you have smartphones?” – and now, shortly after the release of Diablo Immortal, they are mocking smartphones themselves in a clip.
What does this have to do with a Warcraft series? Unfortunately, not much so far. After Warcraft was seen as a feature film, many fans were left disappointed. From their perspective, the Warcraft universe is simply too vast to capture enough appeal in a single film. They believe Warcraft deserves a series on the scale of “Game of Thrones.” These people probably feel addressed by this trailer now and hope to one day see a whole series in this style. However, there are currently no indications for the fulfillment of this dream.
What do you think of this clip? A cool promotional video or a small glimmer of hope for what a Warcraft series could look like one day?
