After spending months on end bonding with their characters in the world of Azeroth, World of Warcraft players will finally be able to produce tokens of their favorite characters that exist in the real world. A company called FigurePrints is making it possible for WoW characters to literally be printed as full-color replica figurines.
Through a partnership with Blizzard, the company uses the 3D prototyping machines usually employed by engineering firms to instead produce accurate 3D “printouts” of WoW characters. The final product arrives in full color, mounted on a pedestal with the character alias emblazoned on the front.
FigurePrints is the brainchild of Ed Fries, former vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “Some day these 3D printing machines will be in everyone’s home,” he said in a statement, “but up until now they were only accessible to a few people in large companies. FigurePrints gives everyone access to this technology for the first time.”
The ordering process is simple. After customers outfit their characters with all their favorite gear, they must produce a snapshot for the Blizzard Armory, where FigurePrints can access the 3D data for production.
The company began selling figurines on Tuesday for $99.95 apiece. Owners of Dell’s new WoW-themed XPS 1730 notebooks will receive a ticket for one free figure.
