In Blizzard’s MMO World of Warcraft, there is a page circulating that promises new players to access the game for free until September 26.
Even one of the largest Warcraft sites in the world, joystiq.com, reported it last night: World of Warcraft is said to be available for free to any new player who wants it via the Battle.net app. A link leads to a page associated with Blizzard. Here it is stated that World of Warcraft will be free to explore until September 26. At the moment, anyone can already do that, but only up to level 20. The website suggests that this is now coming to an end and that the maximum level can be significantly higher. The current game, without the two still paid expansions, includes the base game, the expansions “The Burning Crusade”, “Wrath of the Lich King”, and “Cataclysm” – the maximum level is therefore 85.
Unfortunately, there is still no information from Blizzard about the story, and the – as far as we could ascertain – first site that reported on it has since deleted the news post. However, with the largest international gaming sites starting to report on it now, it seems either there is something to it and someone found the page before Blizzard could explain and promote it, or it is some kind of prank.
Either way, we will likely know more soon.
A free promotion like this is not entirely unlikely. The Starter Edition usually costs 15 euros but has been reduced to 5 euros several times. It is conceivable that Blizzard saves on this and simply gives away the game for free – in digital times, this is no problem – hoping that after the free month, players would stick around and purchase the two missing expansions, Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor, at a discounted price. Statements from World of Warcraft’s lead designer, Tom Chilton, that expansions present a barrier for new players, have recently pointed in a similar direction.
Update 9:40: Ah, okay. Blizzard has now commented on this. This website is part of a promotional campaign aimed at enticing players of other Blizzard games to try World of Warcraft. This is not an offer that you can accept on your own; it has to be made to you by Blizzard.
