With World of Warcraft: The War Within coming out on August 26, the marketing machine is in overdrive—there’s that beautiful 2D cutscene that makes me really excited to see Xal’atath chew up the landscape, Khadgar firing a very large laser, and the promise of a “new experience in Dalaran” that’s available to test in beta today.
Blizzard not only announces new Dalaran games. There is also this short clip of a fully animated 2D mystery thing with the simple headline: “Soon™.”
Given the scale and production at play here, some commentators are already speculating about the possibility of a potential animated TV series – and while that would be super cool, a simple animated short is the smartest choice for a variety of reasons.
The animation style here looks very similar to the Heroes of the Storm animations, which were created by Titmouse, an animation studio that has done a ton of work in the gaming industry – and outside of it too. It has an extensive portfolio that includes the D&D livestream turned franchise, The Legend of Vox Machina, among others. There is no solid confirmation that it Is them, of course, but it has the studio’s touch and we know that Blizzard has worked with Titmouse before.
The logo at the end of the teaser explicitly refers to the expansion itself – which makes it pretty clear that it is designed to The instead of announcing an animated series.
And finally (via WoWHead’s frame-by-frame analysis), the battle takes place in Quel’thalas, most likely before it fell to the Scourge – the elves all have blue eyes, meaning they haven’t headed to the Sunwell for a few sips yet. Most importantly, though, we see Alleria Windrunner – who will play a major role in the expansion itself.
As such, this looks more like a pre-expansion animation that delves into Alleria’s past for the unfamiliar than a full-fledged standalone series, especially considering this is the first we’ve heard of it so far. If I’m wrong, I’ll have to cave and get a 60-minute embarrassment debuff.
However, if the response is good, I’m sure the studio would love to flesh out Warcraft’s extensive story in a full show. And if Blizzard is serious about polishing its history, it would be a great alternative to suggesting, “Hey, play those old strategy games.”
