Blizzard Entertainment, the renowned video game developer, has unveiled a fresh agreement with Chinese technology company NetEase, marking the revival of their partnership after over a year of hiatus. This announcement signifies the return of Blizzard titles to the Chinese market, ending a period of uncertainty that began in late 2022.
Positive Reception in China
The move has been met with overwhelming positivity from the Chinese audience, who lost access to Blizzard titles in early 2023. This meant that games like World of Warcraft, Overwatch, StarCraft, and Hearthstone were unavailable in the country. In addition to renewing the partnership, NetEase has also teamed up with Blizzard’s new parent company to explore the possibility of bringing new NetEase titles to Xbox consoles and other platforms.
“Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase Renew Agreement to Bring Beloved Titles Back to China; Microsoft Gaming, NetEase Enter Broader Collaboration”
byu/Turbostrider27 inGames
Collaboration and Celebration
During Blizzard’s absence from the Chinese market, Activision Blizzard was acquired by tech giant Microsoft in a $68.7 billion deal that had been in the works since January 2022.
In celebrating our collaborations, we are thrilled to embark on the next chapter, built on trust and mutual respect, to serve our users in this unique community we have built together. Our commitment to delivering a more engaging and creative entertainment experience remains unwavering, and we are excited to see how positive synergies are fostered to encourage and empower collaborations that bring the joy of gaming to a broad community.
William Ding, CEO and Chairman of NetEase
In a post on Blizzard China’s official Weibo account today (Apr 10), Blizzard Entertainment, Microsoft Gaming and Netease jointly announce that Blizzard games will return to China this summer.https://t.co/LvHD6Mb84D
[pic: from left to right, Netease CEO William Ding, Blizzard… https://t.co/2A8Senahey pic.twitter.com/ZUuALYgadQ
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) April 10, 2024
Blizzard and NetEase Realign Interests to Bring Blizzard Games Back to China
Both companies have disclosed that they engaged in ongoing discussions over the past year to bring Blizzard’s video games back to China. Blizzard emphasized that they have successfully realigned their interests to continue supporting players together. Currently, neither NetEase nor Blizzard have disclosed the terms of the agreement.