Blizzard and NetEase strike deal, returning Warcraft to China
NetEase said Wednesday that it had struck a deal to distribute titles from Microsoft's Blizzard Entertainment, restoring access to popular video games like World of Warcraft for Chinese gamers.
More than a year ago, NetEase and Blizzard called an end to their partnership when renewal talks turned testy, with both sides accusing each other of bad-faith negotiations. An uproar ensued among Chinese gamers, upset about losing access to a slew of popular titles from Blizzard's parent company, the U.S. game developer Activision Blizzard.
NetEase said on Wednesday that it had reached the new deal with Microsoft, which acquired Activision Blizzard in a $69 billion deal in October. The two companies said they had also agreed to distribute NetEase titles on Microsoft's Xbox game device.
“We are thrilled to embark on the next chapter, built on trust and mutual respect, to serve our users in this unique community that we've built together,” William Ding, NetEase's chief executive, said in a statement.
NetEase and Blizzard first signed a distribution deal in 2008, and the agreement proved beneficial for both sides. NetEase gained access to globally popular titles, while Blizzard secured a foothold in what would become the world's largest video game market. At one point, World of Warcraft was the most popular online game in China.
China's gaming industry has been in turmoil over the last several years. Beijing has sought to rein in online gaming, expressing concern that addiction to it could corrupt young Chinese people. The government has introduced laws that prohibit children from playing online games on school days and limit their gaming to an hour on weekends and holidays.
Last year, regulators proposed rules that would have imposed spending limits on video game platforms and barred minors from tipping video game livestreamers, a popular way to support online influencers. But regulators backed off the proposal after video game companies' stocks plunged.
The government crackdowns added complexity to the negotiations between Activision and NetEase, according to an investigation into the breakup that was published last year.
Chinese gamers will still have to wait a few months before they can resume playing titles like Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, Hearthstone and StarCraft, NetEase and Blizzard said. The companies said they needed time to make “technical preparations” such as restoring data and building new server facilities. They said they were aiming for the first game, which they did not identify, to be available “in the summer.”
The announcement of the new agreement was shared widely on Weibo, China's version of the social media site X, and the reaction was mostly negative. Some people still seemed upset that the games had not been available for more than a year, while others accused Blizzard of disrespecting Chinese gamers. One person said that users were not so “cheap” as to come running back immediately once the games had returned.