Blizzard Entertainment feels like the right company for this activation, because a flurry of activity is underway to make it happen for the AFC Divisional Round game featuring Texans-Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
Blizzard is promoting an upcoming expansion for its flagship game, World of Warcraft, with a tailgate-like activation. But instead of cars and pickups, it’s using a cozy tavern from the massive online role-playing game to promote the addition of player housing in March 2’s World of Warcraft: Midnight expansion. This is the first time Blizzard has used a pro sports event to promote any of its games, though it has worked with the Lakers’ Luka Dončić for Overwatch 2 earlier this year and a Washington college football game in 2024.
“Who doesn’t want a cozy, pregame tavern in absolutely frigid Boston?” said Blizzard Entertainment CMO Monica Austin, who no doubt has her eye on the weather forecast (34 degrees with a 30% chance of snow at kickoff as of this report), as the tavern’s structure and various other components of the activation are still 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 development had been going on for months, the World of Warcraft: Welcome Home Pre-Game Tavern promotion came together quickly once Blizzard knew the location of AFC Divisional Round games. Blizzard and its agency, Havas Media Network, worked with the NFL and the Patriots on this promotion. Austin said they didn’t know if they’d be in Colorado or Massachusetts until Monday.
“We knew we wanted this game,” Austin said. “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 home
Austin said they had been building the tavern on the West Coast (Blizzard’s HQ is Anaheim, Calif.) for “months and months” and had been scouting out locations in Denver and the greater Boston area “for a couple weeks now.”
The tavern will sit outside Gillette Stadium in Patriot Place, and Austin said she expects “200 to 300-plus” visiting the tavern, though she also said another 50,000 to 80,000 people will “get exposure” to the tavern as they enter the stadium.
Inside, visitors can grab a drink, watch a livestream for World of Warcraft (which includes an Epic Edition giveaway for the Midnight expansion) and interact with influencers and cosplayers, including several dressed as orcs (they’ll be roaming the stands during the game as well). It runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET before kickoff. Austin also said Blizzard is working with real estate firm Zillow for the first time and will be using Sunday’s event to tease their relationship.
Housing may be a feature that may come across as trivial to the casual reader but is serious for players, who have been asking for it since the game launched in 2004. Player housing is a staple in online RPGs going back to the days of Ultima Online.
Players have been requesting player housing “forever,” Austin said.
An epic crossover
While the NFL may have little to do with housing (well, besides having a “home” team), Blizzard’s research has seen a significant crossover between pro football fans 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 also a way to build on 2025’s college football activation at Washington or the Dončić event for Overwatch 2? Or should the gaming industry expect Blizzard — and others — to market more than just league-licensed video games at sports events?
“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.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.sportsbusinessjournal.com ’
