Check out the Hearthstone TV ad that will air during NBA, NHL finals this week

The thing about free-to-play games is that the mobile stores are overflowing with them, and so to stand out, publishers and developers need to invest in “player acquisition.” Increasingly, this means television commercials.

Blizzard is the latest publisher to start a marketing campaign on television for one of its free-to-play mobile releases. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, the company’s competitive card battler, gets its first 30-second TV spot later this week. Blizzard’s PR firm, Grayling, has informed GamesBeat that this commercial will first air during playoff games for the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.