World of Warcraft (WoW) is a 2004 video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment for computers running Windows and macOS. It is part of the Warcraft series and takes place in a fictional world called Azeroth, about four years after the events of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The game was first announced in 2001 and released on November 23, 2004, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. Since its launch, the game has received 11 major expansion packs: The Burning Crusade (2007), Wrath of the Lich King (2008), Cataclysm (2010), Mists of Pandaria (2012), Warlords of Draenor (2014), Legion (2016), Battle for Azeroth (2018), Shadowlands (2020), Dragonflight (2022), The War Within (2024), and Midnight (2026). An additional expansion called The Last Titan was announced in 2023.

World of Warcraft is inspired by other online games, such as EverQuest. Players create a character and explore a large, open world from a first- or third-person perspective. They can fight monsters, complete tasks, and interact with other players or non-player characters (NPCs). The game encourages teamwork for quests, dungeons, and battles, but players can also play alone. Progressing in the game involves earning experience points to increase a character’s strength, defeating enemies to get better equipment, and using in-game money to buy or sell items.

When it was first released in 2004, World of Warcraft became one of the most popular and successful video games. It reached 12 million players at its peak in 2010. By 2014, the game had over 100 million registered accounts, and by 2017, it had earned more than $9.23 billion in total revenue. It is often called one of the greatest MMORPGs and video games of all time. The game has continued to receive updates and new content for over 20 years. In 2019, a version of the game called World of Warcraft Classic was released, allowing players to experience the original game before any expansions were added. Later, some expansions were also made available for Classic.

Gameplay

In World of Warcraft, players control a character, called an avatar, in a game world that can be seen from a third-person or first-person perspective. Players explore the world, fight monsters, complete quests, and interact with other players or non-player characters (NPCs). Like other MMORPGs, players must pay a subscription fee using a credit or debit card, prepaid game cards, or in-game tokens. Players without a subscription can use a trial account that allows their character to reach level 20, but many features are not available.

To begin playing, players choose a server, called a "realm" in the game. Each realm is a separate copy of the game world and falls into one of two categories:

• Normal – a realm where the main focus is defeating monsters and completing quests. Player-versus-player (PvP) combat and roleplaying are optional.
• RP (Roleplay) – a realm where players act as their characters, with gameplay similar to a Normal realm but with a stronger focus on roleplaying.

Before the "Battle for Azeroth" expansion, Normal and RP realms were divided into PvE (player-versus-environment) and PvP (player-versus-player) servers. This division was removed after the "War Mode" feature was added. War Mode lets players aged 20 or older choose whether to participate in PvP combat on any server by enabling it in two capital cities.

Realms are also grouped by language, with in-game support for that language. Players can create new characters on any realm within their region, and existing characters can be moved between realms for a fee.

When creating a new character, players choose between two factions: the Alliance or the Horde. Pandaren characters, introduced in the "Mists of Pandaria" expansion, do not pick a faction until after completing their starting zone. Characters from opposing factions can team up for most challenges, such as raids and dungeons. As of patch 10.1, characters can also join guilds from the opposite faction. Players select their character's race, such as orcs or trolls for the Horde, or humans or dwarves for the Alliance. They also choose a class, like mages, warriors, or priests. Most classes are limited to specific races.

As characters grow stronger, they gain new abilities and skills. Players can select two main professions, such as tailoring or blacksmithing, or gathering skills like mining or skinning. All characters can learn three secondary skills: archaeology, cooking, and fishing. Characters can form or join guilds, which provide features like a guild chat, name, tabard, bank, repairs, and dues.

Many parts of the game involve completing quests. Quests are usually given by NPCs and reward players with experience points, items, or in-game money. Quests help characters learn new skills, access new areas, and learn the game's story through text and NPC actions. Quests are often linked in chains, where completing one quest unlocks the next. Quests may involve killing creatures, gathering resources, finding objects, speaking to NPCs, visiting locations, or delivering items.

While players can play alone, grouping with others is needed for many challenges. Most end-game content requires teamwork, with each class having a specific role. The game has a "rested bonus" system that gives extra experience points after a player has been away from the game. If a character dies, it becomes a ghost or wisp near a graveyard and can be revived by another player or by moving to where they died. If a character is above level 10 and is revived at a graveyard, their equipped items degrade, requiring money and a specialist NPC to repair. Items that are too damaged must be fixed to be used again. If a character's body is unreachable, a "spirit healer" NPC can revive them at the graveyard. When revived this way, items degrade further, and the character becomes weaker for up to 10 minutes, depending on their level. This weakness, called "resurrection sickness," does not happen if the character finds their body or is revived by another player.

World of Warcraft includes many ways to play PvP. Players on PvE (Normal or RP) servers can choose to enable "War Mode," making them attackable by players from the opposite faction. On PvE servers, players can decide whether to fight others. Both server types have special areas for free combat, such as battlegrounds. Battlegrounds are like dungeons, with a limited number of players allowed in each. Each battleground has a goal, like capturing a flag or defeating an enemy general. Winning gives players tokens and honor points, which can be used to buy armor, weapons, and other items. Players earn more honor and tokens for winning than for losing. Honor is also earned when a player or nearby teammate kills an opponent in a battleground.

World of Warcraft is set in the same universe as the Warcraft real-time strategy games and has a similar art style. The game includes elements from fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction, such as gryphons, dragons, elves, steam-powered machines, zombies, werewolves, time travel, spaceships, and alien worlds.

The game world is a 3D version of the Warcraft universe. Initially, the game featured two continents: Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Later expansions added new areas, including Outland, Draenor, Northrend, and Pandaria. As players explore, they discover new locations and regions.

Plot

Thrall's Horde aimed to settle in Durotar and grew by inviting the undead Forsaken to join the orcs, tauren, and trolls. At the same time, the dwarves, gnomes, and ancient night elves pledged their support to the Alliance, which was led by the human kingdom of Stormwind. After Stormwind's king, Varian Wrynn, disappeared, Highlord Bolvar Fordragon became Regent. However, his leadership was influenced by the mind control of the black dragon Onyxia, who secretly posed as a human noblewoman. As heroes uncovered Onyxia's actions, the ancient elemental lord Ragnaros returned, threatening both the Horde and Alliance. Heroes from the Horde and Alliance defeated Onyxia and sent Ragnaros back to the Elemental Plane.

Deep inside Blackrock Mountain, the black dragon Nefarian performed twisted experiments using the blood of other dragonflights. Determined to take control of the area, Nefarian gathered the remaining Dark Horde, a rogue army that embraced the demonic nature of the old Horde. These corrupted orcs, trolls, and other races fought against Ragnaros and the Dark Iron dwarves for control of the mountain. Nefarian created the deformed chromatic dragons and a group of other monstrous creatures to build an army strong enough to rule Azeroth and continue the legacy of his father, Deathwing the Destroyer. Nefarian was defeated by heroes from the Horde and Alliance.

Years ago, in the ruined temple of Atal'Hakkar, priests loyal to the Blood God Hakkar the Soulflayer tried to summon the god's powerful form into the world. However, the Atal'ai priesthood discovered that Hakkar could only be summoned in the ancient capital of the Gurubashi tribe, Zul'Gurub. Reborn in this jungle fortress, Hakkar took control of the Gurubashi tribe and the mortal champions of the trolls' animal gods. The Soulflayer's influence was stopped when the Zandalari tribe recruited heroes and attacked Zul'Gurub.

The great desert fortress of Ahn'Qiraj, long blocked by the Scarab Wall, was home to the qiraji, a fierce insectoid race that once attacked Kalimdor. However, an even greater threat existed within Ahn'Qiraj: the Old God C'Thun, an ancient evil that has plagued Azeroth for ages. As C'Thun drove the qiraji into madness, both the Alliance and Horde prepared for a large battle. A combined force of Alliance and Horde soldiers, called the Might of Kalimdor, opened the gates of Ahn'Qiraj under the command of the orc Varok Saurfang. The heroes attacked the ruins and temples of Ahn'Qiraj and defeated C'Thun.

In his rush to spread the plague of undeath across Azeroth, the Lich King gave his powerful servant, the lich Kel'Thuzad, the flying citadel of Naxxramas as a base for the Scourge. Attacks by the Scarlet Crusade and Argent Dawn weakened Naxxramas's defenses, allowing heroes to attack and defeat Kel'Thuzad. However, a traitor in the Argent Dawn took Kel'Thuzad's cursed remains and fled to Northrend, where the fallen lich could be brought back to life.

Development

After releasing StarCraft in 1998, Blizzard started working on its next game. At first, this project was called Nomad and was based on a tabletop game called Necromunda, which took place in a post-apocalyptic world. During the first year of development, Nomad lacked a clear direction. Many Blizzard developers had become fans of EverQuest, an MMORPG released in 1999 by Verant Interactive. Interest in Nomad decreased as Blizzard discussed creating their own MMORPG based on the Warcraft series, aiming to improve aspects they felt were missing in EverQuest. In a vote, all but Duane Stinnett, the Nomad project lead, supported the shift. By the end of 1999, work on Nomad stopped, and World of Warcraft was started instead.

World of Warcraft was first announced by Blizzard at the ECTS trade show in September 2001. The game was released in 2004 and took about 4–5 years to develop, including testing. The 3D graphics in World of Warcraft use elements from the special graphics engine used in Warcraft III. The game allows players to explore freely, with optional quests designed to help guide players, develop characters, and spread players across different areas to avoid overcrowding. The game interface lets players customize their appearance, controls, and install add-ons or modifications.

World of Warcraft runs on both Mac and Windows platforms. Boxed versions of the game use a special type of CD that works for both operating systems, eliminating the need for separate Mac and Windows versions. The game allows all users to play together, regardless of their operating system. While there is no official version for other platforms, the game can be played on Linux and FreeBSD using tools like Wine and CrossOver. Blizzard has not released or announced a native Linux version. In 2011, a journalist noted that an internal Linux version might exist but is not released due to the complexity of the Linux ecosystem.

In the United States, Canada, and Europe, Blizzard sells World of Warcraft as retail software packages. These packages include 30 days of free gameplay. To continue playing after 30 days, players must buy additional time using a credit card or prepaid card. The minimum purchase is 30 days with a credit card or 60 days with a prepaid card. Players can also buy three or six months of gameplay at a discount. In some regions, stores sell a trial version on DVD, which includes the game and 20 levels of gameplay. After reaching level 20, players must upgrade to a retail account by providing a credit card or buying a game card and a retail copy.

In Brazil, World of Warcraft was released on December 6, 2011, through BattleNet. The first three expansions are available in Brazilian Portuguese, fully translated and with voice acting.

In South Korea, players do not need a software package or CD key to activate their accounts. Instead, they must buy time credits online. Two types of time credits are available: one based on the number of minutes played and one based on days. Time can be purchased in 5-hour or 30-hour increments for the minute-based option, or in 7-day, 1-month, or 3-month increments for the day-based option. Since no software packages are required, all players can access expansion content on launch day.

When World of Warcraft was first released in China, players could buy hourly and daily tokens used at Internet cafes. The initial release was very popular because many Chinese players had already played the game on North American and European servers.

The Chinese versions include changes to the game, such as adding flesh to skeleton models and turning dead character bodies into tidy graves. These changes were made by the regional licensee, The9, to promote a "healthy and harmonious online game environment." Despite some belief that such elements needed to be censored in China, the Chinese government does not ban such content, as it appears in other games. NetEase took over licensing from The9 in 2009 and launched Wrath of the Lich King in 2010, nearly two years after its Western release. Due to a contract dispute, these servers closed in 2023. In 2024, NetEase announced that World of Warcraft would return to China in the summer of 2024, with a livestream in June 2024 where Blizzard confirmed the release of Wrath of the Lich King for World of Warcraft Classic and The War Within expansion for Chinese players.

The World of Warcraft launcher, also called the "Blizzard Launcher," is a program that helps players start the game and update it. It was first included with the 1.8.3 patch. The 2.1.0 patch allowed players to skip the launcher. Features include news updates, access to the support website, test versions of the game, updates to the Warden system, and the updater itself. The 3.0.8 patch redesigned the launcher and let players change game settings from the launcher. The 4.0.1 patch update allows players to play the game while downloading non-essential files, requiring a high-speed internet connection.

The 1.9.3 patch added support for Intel-powered Macs, making World of Warcraft a universal application. This changed the minimum Mac OS X version to 10.3.9, and older versions are no longer supported. PowerPC Macs are no longer supported since version 4.0.1.

When new content is added, official system requirements may change. In version 1.12.0, the Windows requirement for RAM increased from 256 MB to 512 MB. Support for Windows 98 ended, though the game continued to work on it until version 2.2.3. Before Mists of Pandaria in 2012, support for Windows 2000 was dropped, followed by Windows XP and Vista in 2017, and all 32-bit support was removed.

Starting with version 4.3, players could try an experimental 64-bit version of the client, which required manual installation. Since version 5.0, the 64-bit client is automatically used by default.

Since World IPv6 Day, the client and most servers support IPv6.

Eleven expansions have been released: The Burning Crusade (January 2007), Wrath of the Lich King (November 2008), Cataclysm (December 2010), Mists of Pandaria (September 2012), Warlords of Draenor (November 2014), Legion (August 2016), Battle for Azeroth (August 2018), *

Reception

World of Warcraft received very good reviews when it was first released, after many people were excited about it before it came out. The game uses ideas from the role-playing genre, but it introduced new ways to make the game more fun. For example, when a character dies, players can quickly recover and continue playing, unlike in some older games where dying had big consequences. Combat was also improved by reducing pauses between battles. Players could return to fighting quickly because all character types could heal from damage. Reviewers believed these changes made the game easier for casual players who play for short times, while still offering deep gameplay for others. A feature called the "rested bonus" helped players gain experience faster, making it easier to catch up with friends.

Quests were an important part of the game, helping players follow storylines or explore the world. Many quests were available in each area, and players enjoyed the rewards they received. Quests helped players avoid repetitive tasks, but some quests required collecting items from dead creatures, which was frustrating because the chance to find these items was low. In busy areas, players sometimes had to wait for turns to complete quests. Some critics said the game didn’t have enough quests that required teamwork, making it seem more suited for solo play. Others said some group quests were hard for new players and took a long time to finish. A few quests had bugs that made them impossible to complete.

Characters were well-designed, with each class and race having unique abilities and appearances. Players liked the talent system, which gave choices for character development, and the profession options. However, customization options for characters were limited, though the detailed character models were praised.

The game world was highly praised for its visuals. Players could travel across continents without loading screens, and the environment was described as beautiful. Each area had a unique look that blended smoothly. The game ran well on many computers, though some said the graphics were basic. The ability to fly was praised for creating an immersive experience. The user interface was simple and easy to learn, with helpful tooltips.

The game’s music was well-received, with different songs for different areas that helped players feel more immersed. Sound effects and character voices added personality to the game.

World of Warcraft won many awards, including Editor’s Choice awards and being named the best game in its genre. It was praised for its graphics, audio, and design. The game was also honored at the 2005 Apple Design Awards and named the best computer game of 2004 by Computer Games Magazine. It won awards for art direction, music, and interface design.

At the 2005 Spike TV Video Game Awards, it won Best PC Game, Best Multiplayer Game, Best RPG, and Most Addictive Game. It also received awards at the Interactive Achievement Awards and the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards.

World of Warcraft was the best-selling PC game in 2005 and 2006. In the U.S., it sold 1.4 million copies by August 2006. By 2008, it had over 10 million subscribers worldwide. At its peak in 2010, it had 12 million subscribers. By 2014, it had over 10 million active players. In 2014, Blizzard announced 100 million accounts had been created for the game. Subscriptions dropped to 5.6 million by 2015.

In China, the game was shut down in 2009, which could have affected Activision Blizzard’s profits. The game held 62% of the MMORPG market in 2008 and has earned $9.23 billion in revenue. It is one of the highest-grossing video games ever, along with Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Street Fighter II. Blizzard started tournaments for the game in 2012.

Security concerns

In September 2006, fake websites that looked like official World of Warcraft game guides were found to contain harmful software. Computers that were not protected could be infected through web browsers, which would then download a program that sent account details back to attackers. Blizzard, the company that makes World of Warcraft, reported that many users needed help with their accounts during this time. Some users said that phone support was temporarily unavailable because of the large number of calls. In April 2007, attacks changed to use animated cursor tricks on multiple websites. A security research group called Symantec reported that a stolen World of Warcraft account was worth about $10 on the black market, compared to $6 to $12 for a stolen computer (as of March 2007). In February 2008, fake emails were sent to users, asking them to confirm their account details using a fake login page. In June 2008, Blizzard introduced the Blizzard Authenticator, a security tool that works as a physical device or app. This tool creates a temporary password that users must enter along with their regular password when logging in. The temporary password is only valid for a few minutes, which helps protect against keylogging malware.

Blizzard uses a system called Warden on the Windows version of the game to check for third-party programs, such as software that plays the game automatically. This helps ensure that the game is played by humans. However, Warden has caused some legal debates because it collects information about other programs running on users' computers and sends some of it back to Blizzard. Critics say this is similar to spyware, as it can record details like the titles of open windows while the game is running. Some gamers support Warden, believing it helps reduce cheating. Blizzard included information about Warden in its Terms of Agreement.

The existence of Warden was revealed in March 2008 during a legal case against MDY Industries. The lawsuit, which took place in Arizona federal court, also involved Michael Donnelly, the creator of MMO Glider, a program that automatically performs tasks in the game. Blizzard claimed that the software violated its copyright and license agreement, saying it harms the game experience for other players by unfair advantages and disrupting the game's economy. Donnelly said he sold 100,000 copies of the $25 software.

On July 6, 2010, Blizzard announced that user accounts on its game forums would display real names linked to each account. This change followed an agreement with Facebook, which allowed users to share their real identities with friends. However, this feature raised concerns among fans of Blizzard's games. In response, Blizzard canceled the Real ID integration on July 9, 2010, after receiving feedback from users.

Community and study of player interaction

World of Warcraft players engage in the game, join online discussions, and contribute to the virtual community through creative activities such as making fan art and creating stories in a comic strip style.

In January 2006, Blizzard faced criticism after banning guilds from advertising their stance on sexual orientation. This happened after some players were accused of harassment for supporting a group that promoted a gay-straight alliance. Later, Blizzard changed its decision and stopped warning players who supported LGBT-friendly guilds.

On October 7, 2010, World of Warcraft had more than 12 million players. By May 2011, the number of players had dropped by 10%, from 11.4 million to 10.3 million. Blizzard’s CEO, Mike Morhaime, suggested this decline might be due to fewer players in Eastern markets. In 2012, a senior producer, John Lagrave, told Eurogamer that the drop in subscriptions could also be linked to the release of BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic.

World of Warcraft has been studied by academics because of its popularity and long history. Early research focused on how players work together, especially in groups called guilds, and was led by experts in fields like game studies, anthropology, psychology, and communications. One well-known study is My Life as a Night Elf Priest by Bonnie Nardi. Over time, researchers from other areas, such as economics, design, and philosophy, also began studying the game.

Like other online games, companies sell virtual gold and in-game items for real money, a practice called gold farming. This caused problems when U.S. players competed with Chinese players who were paid to generate in-game resources to sell online. The game had no translation for in-game chat, so English-speaking and non-English-speaking players rarely communicated. Media scholar Lisa Nakamura noted that gold farming and certain play styles were often linked to Chinese players, leading to unfair stereotypes.

After Blizzard introduced free trial accounts, players noticed more spam from bots advertising services. A study found that gold was much more expensive on European servers than on U.S. servers.

In response, Blizzard added new rules to reduce spam, such as limiting private messages and allowing trial accounts to use only certain features. Trial accounts could not chat publicly, trade items, use the Auction House, or send mail.

In May 2007, Blizzard sued a company called in Game Dollar LLC for advertising services in the game. In February 2008, the company agreed to stop using the game’s chat to promote its services. In June 2007, a player named Antonio Hernandez filed a lawsuit against IGE for interfering with the game’s intended use.

As players progress in the game and complete difficult challenges, some rewards are tied to their characters and cannot be traded. This led to a market for trading accounts with strong characters. The highest recorded trade was for £5,000 in September 2007. However, Blizzard banned the account five days after the purchase.

Buying or selling gold in the game has caused controversy. In 2008, Blizzard reported that many gold sales came from hacked accounts. Players who paid for leveling services often found their accounts stolen and their items sold for virtual gold. In April 2015, Blizzard introduced a way to sell in-game gold for real money, such as spending $20 on a token that could be sold for in-game gold.

In December 2015, Blizzard sold a battle pet named Brightpaw for $10, with all money going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This raised over $1.7 million. In December 2016, another battle pet named Mischief raised more than $2.5 million for the same cause. In September 2017, a pet named Shadow the fox raised money for the Red Cross to help with disaster relief.

The Corrupted Blood plague was one of the first events to affect all players on a server. Patch 1.7 introduced Zul’Gurub, a 20-player dungeon where players fought a tribe of trolls. After defeating the final boss, players were infected with a debuff called "Corrupted Blood," which caused damage over time. The disease spread to other players simply by being near infected players.

The plague quickly spread to major cities because of the large number of players. Low-level players died quickly from the disease. Blizzard fixed the issue by preventing the plague from spreading outside the dungeon.

The Corrupted Blood plague closely resembled real-world disease outbreaks. Scientists are studying how games like World of Warcraft can model human behavior during epidemics. Player reactions to the plague helped researchers better understand how diseases spread in populations.

Legacy

World of Warcraft changed how MMORPG games were made. Its ideas were not completely new, but together they created a model for the genre as a theme park instead of a simulation. The game had a mix of serious stories and full characters, but its main goal was to entertain. Players earned experience points by completing quests, which made gameplay feel like a list of tasks and encouraged moving around the game world instead of staying in one place. The use of instanced dungeons allowed players to team up without meeting others, so different parts of the game had different purposes, such as areas for group challenges, large challenges, and leveling up. World of Warcraft’s original talent system, which let players choose upgrades, was later used in games like Star Wars: The Old Republic. The game also organized "raid" activities, where players needed specific strategies. Strategies used in raids later became part of the game itself.

Although not the first MMORPG to make players spend hundreds of hours, World of Warcraft was the most successful one at the time. In 2019, Vice wrote that "most people know someone who said they were 'addicted' to World of Warcraft." For some players, the game became a major obsession, taking priority over basic needs and relationships. The game’s many quests gave some players a sense of purpose or a way to cope with life challenges, even though spending so much time on the game did not improve their real-life happiness. The game inspired a group called Wowaholics Anonymous, which helps players quit playing. It also gave some players hope and led to real-life relationships.

The first restaurant themed around World of Warcraft opened in Beijing in 2008. In 2011, an amusement park called World Joyland Play Valley, inspired by World of Warcraft, opened in China.

Before running Breitbart News and joining the Trump campaign and administration, Steve Bannon found a political audience among World of Warcraft players. He worked with Internet Gaming Entertainment, a company that employed "gold farmers" who sold in-game money for real money. This introduced Bannon to a group of players he described as "rootless, white males" with "monster power" before the rise of Reddit. He later helped build Breitbart into a far-right news and entertainment website by hiring Milo Yiannopoulos to attract disaffected gamers.

Vitalik Buterin, who later co-founded Ethereum, was inspired to work on decentralized technologies after a 2010 update changed his World of Warcraft character’s preferred spell. Requests from World of Warcraft players also influenced Microsoft to change how hotkeys work in Windows.

To celebrate the game’s 20th anniversary in 2024, Blizzard partnered with the University of Washington, temporarily renaming the university’s college football team "University of Warcraft."

World of Warcraft has inspired artists to create satirical works and recognize its influence in popular culture. One example is the Emmy Award-winning South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft." The game has also been used to advertise unrelated products, such as Toyota trucks.

In late 2007, television commercials for the game began airing, featuring pop culture celebrities like Mr. T, William Shatner, and Verne Troyer discussing the strengths of their in-game characters. A Spanish commercial with Guillermo Toledo and a French commercial with Jean-Claude Van Damme were also shown. Additional commercials in 2008 featured Ozzy Osbourne and Steve Van Zandt, and in 2011, a commercial with Chuck Norris played on the "Chuck Norris facts" internet trend.

World of Warcraft has inspired three board games: World of Warcraft: The Board Game (including Shadow of War and The Burning Crusade expansions), World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game (made by Fantasy Flight Games), and a World of Warcraft edition of Trivial Pursuit. There is also a trading card game and a collectible miniatures game, both now produced by Cryptozoic Entertainment. In August 2012, Megabloks released a line of building block toys based on the game. In March 2014, Hearthstone, a free-to-play digital card game based on the Warcraft universe, was released.

In November 2007, DC Comics published the first issue of the World of Warcraft comic under their WildStorm imprint.

In 2015, Blizzard released Heroes of the Storm, a crossover multiplayer game where players can control over 35 heroes from the Warcraft universe, such as Arthas, Gul’dan, and Sylvanas. The game includes a Warcraft-themed battleground called Alterac Pass. In 2018, Warcraft-themed skins were added to Heroes of the Storm during the "Echoes of Alterac" event. Soundtracks from World of Warcraft, such as "Obsidian Sanctum" and "Stormwind theme," are used as background music in the game.

To celebrate Hearthstone’s release, Blizzard gave players a special mount called Hearthsteed, which can be earned by winning three games in Arena or Play mode. This promotion encouraged World of Warcraft players to try Hearthstone and marked the first major crossover between Blizzard games.

Players who buy Warlords of Draenor Collector’s or Digital Deluxe Editions receive an Orc-themed card back in Hearthstone. Heroes of the Storm players who reach level 20 get the Grave Golem battle pet in World of Warcraft, and players who reach level 100 in World of Warcraft receive an Ironside Dire Wolf mount in Heroes of the Storm. Starting March 11, 2016, players who level a character to 20 in World of Warcraft (which can be done with the free starter edition) earn the alternate Paladin hero Lady Liadrin in Hearthstone.

Players who buy Overwatch Origins, Game of the Year, or Collector’s Editions receive the Baby Winston battle pet in World of Warcraft.