Blizzard and NetEase set to unveil new partnership deal
Renewed alliance will allow US giant to return to mainland after absence of more than a year
Blizzard Entertainment, the video game giant behind World of Warcraft, and long-time mainland partner NetEase are expected to announce a new deal this week that will allow for a highly anticipated comeback to the country.
The two companies are expected to announce today they have reached a new agreement for the distribution of Blizzard titles in China, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be named, confirming local media reports.
However, it could take at least another month for Blizzard games to finally return to the mainland market after the new partnership was announced, the person said.
US tech giant Microsoft, which acquired Activision Blizzard, parent of Blizzard Entertainment, for US$69 billion last year, has been playing a positive and active role in the negotiation process with NetEase since talks started late last year, according to the source.
Chinese news portal Sina.com first reported yesterday the pair would make their renewed partnership public today, citing confirmation from NetEase.
Lanjinger, another Chinese news publication, also confirmed the timeline and added the local servers might be open to gamers this summer.
Neither NetEase nor Blizzard responded to requests for comment yesterday.
The revival of Blizzard’s partnership with NetEase would let one of the biggest game developers return to the world’s largest video gaming market by revenue after an absence of more than a year.
The developer of the hit World
of Warcraft and Diablo series suspended services in China in January 2023 after its 14-year partnership with NetEase expired. The two firms failed to agree to new terms to extend the deal.
Blizzard said a week before the expiration that NetEase had rejected its proposal for a sixmonth extension. NetEase, which had been running World of
Warcraft in China since 2009, described the offer as unfair.
In addition to the withdrawal of World of Warcraft, Blizzard had to discontinue support for other popular titles in the country such as Overwatch, Hearthstone,
StarCraft and Diablo III.
After the fallout, NetEase filed multiple lawsuits against Blizzard. In one suit filed last April, NetEase demanded US$45 million as compensation for costs that included refunds it had to pay to affected gamers.
Blizzard responded with two countersuits in June, alleging intellectual property infringement and unfair competition after the mainland firm’s game Justice launched an initiative to woo
World of Warcraft fans, according to a report by Chinese media Yicai.
The two companies later dropped all the lawsuits.
China’s strict video gaming regulations require that foreign titles only be published via local distributors to ensure they have proper licensing – a process that often involves sanitisation to appease censors.