Warcraft is a 3D video game, depicting a war between four unique races ; the Orcs, the Humans, the Night Elves and the Undead ; each armed with magical abilities and distinctive weapons of war. The game was created by Blizzard Entertainment, and has a complement of paperback novels and electronic fiction.

The Warcraft universe is a fictional universe in which a series of games and books published by Blizzard Entertainment are set. Players were first introduced to this universe in 1994 with the original Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in Eastern Kingdoms of the planet Azeroth. Known worlds in the Warcraft universe include Azeroth, Draenor the Red World (later called Outland), Argus, K'aresh, and Xoroth. The Warcraft Game series is made up of four core games, with Warcraft II and Warcraft III having one expansion each, and World of Warcraft having two expansions: the Burning Crusade and the Wrath of the Lich King.

The majority of media in the Warcraft universe takes place upon a planet called Azeroth. This planet has four continents, named the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Northrend (the world's polar cap) and Undermine (considered home land of the Goblins) all of which are separated by a large ocean called The Great Sea. In the center of the Great Sea is an enormous, everlasting vortex called the "Maelstrom" (created as a result of a cataclysm that split the previous supercontinent of Kalimdor into the four current major landmasses).

In May 2006, Legendary Pictures acquired film rights to adapt Warcraft for the cinema with the game's publisher, Blizzard Entertainment. The companies plan to create a film that will not follow one specific Warcraft game's storyline, but will still take place in the fantasy universe. According to Blizzard's Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams, the film's budget would be over $100 million.