If you’re a fan of gaming and keep up with the news, it’s likely you’ve heard about the Warcraft movie that’s going to be happening sometime in the future. Can’t say it’s much of a surprise, but what will this movie mean — from a gaming standpoint?

The movie likely won’t launch for a few years more. A few years that will allow Blizzard time to prep for… something. Any guesses? What’s that? a WoW sequel? Perhaps Warcraft 4? I think so!

Blizzard did it before with WoW; the release of Warcraft 3 and its sequel paved the way for hype and story. Now we have a Warcraft movie coming.

I’ll go on record here and say that Blizzard will release 1 more expansion for WoW before the release of the movie. This expansion will set up the story and backdrop of the movie. Afterward, we will see one of two things: another expansion that will pick up after the movie and lead into a WoW sequel, or the movie itself will lead into a WoW sequel. I’m going for the latter, as it seems the best choice — unless Blizzard does something really different and carries WoW1 characters over to WoW2…

In any case, the hype will be phenomenal — and not only in the gaming sector *should the movie turn out well*. I can already see the merchandise for the movie, that would also tie directly into the game(s). Unique vanity pets with the limited edition DVD set! Free trials for you and friends for WoW2 in each DVD! (before they offer a free trial to everyone, of course) And so on, and so forth.

WoW has been going pretty strong for 5-6 years now, the movie likely won’t hit for another 3-4. WoW will be nearly a decade old. The time will be ripe for a sequel, and the hype will be huge.

(let’s just hope they can fix Barren’s chat by then, eh? eh?! *sigh*)