Diablo 4, whose launch (for certain pre-orders) is this week, has a second promotion with KFC, the noted purveyor of fried chicken from Kentucky. Five in-game cosmetics are available — though themed to KFC’s products and brand, they’re actually not too obnoxious as tie-ins go.
What’s strange is neither KFC nor Blizzard Entertainment seemed to formally announce this availability. Fans dug it out of a KFC internal email at the beginning of May. Then 11 days ago, another leak revealed what the weapon skins are. Behold:
The names are dry enough references to KFC without being lore-breaking silly. “Vessel of the Eleven” refers to, of course, the 11 herbs and spices flavoring the chicken; “Dread Pheasant Slayer” seems self explanatory; the Thrumming Axle resembles a multi-pronged chicken rotisserie; and Gallus is the genus of birds that includes the domesticated chicken.
This stuff became available on Monday, May 29. The problem, however, is because getting it is tied to ordering food online, in-store KFC staff have no idea what fans are talking about when they show up, buy a chicken sandwich, and ask for the code. In-store purchases explicitly do not qualify for the giveaways.
The procedure is simply:
- Create a KFC account, sync that to your Battle.net account, get one item. Both accounts are free to create.
- Use your KFC online account (or the app) to order “a qualifying product,” and you get another free item. This means you have to order four qualifying food items (there are many) to complete the set. The FAQ at the promo page has more. The offer is good through July 2.
KFC and Blizzard teamed up back in March to give out open beta codes for Diablo 4 with the purchase of the infamous Double Down sandwich. (In an even funnier promotion, they gave away free cleaning services to fans to make sure they could stay inside all weekend playing it.)
In other words, get ready for a marketing blitz; Diablo 4 is available to those who pre-ordered its Digital Deluxe Edition or Ultimate Edition beginning Thursday June 1. The game’s full, standard launch is June 6 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.