The first children's book based on the Warcraft franchise will go on pre-sale later this year and make its premiere at BlizzCon, Blizzard Entertainment announced at San Diego Comic-Con today.
The debut children's book, titled Snowfight, is written by senior VP of story and franchise development Chris Metzen and illustrated by Blizzard artist Wei Wang. "I've been thinking about it for a while," Metzen said, saying that he's watched his "rugrats" grow up alongside World of Warcraft, which will turn nine years old this November, and that they've been curious about the characters and lore.
"I always thought the idea would be really cool," Metzen said of the unexpected expansion to children's books. "There was just something about these ideas... that just felt really fun and like getting back to basics." Metzen said the smaller scale book was a nice change of pace from the massive, hardcover lore and art books Blizzard traditionally trades in.
Metzen said that seeing Wang's art, which is traditionally "hyper-detailed" fantasy art, "stretch this way" and conjures images that emote in a new way made the children's book project fun to work on.
"It's so weird," Metzen said, "but it's one of those passion projects we wanted to chase ... and I hope it just pops."