Shockingly, Blizzard announced that next January 23, most of 1200 games will stop operating in China. This is the The result of the company’s failure to renew its 14 China market licensing agreement for 14 years with NetEase, China’s second largest game company .
Games such as World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Warcraft III: Reforged, Overwatch, the StarCraft series, Diablo III, and Heroes of the Storm will all be gone. “The parties have not yet reached an agreement to renew an agreement consistent with Blizzard’s operating principles and commitment to players and employees,” the company said.
William Ding, CEO of NetEase said: “We have made great efforts and tried with the utmost sincerity to negotiate with Activision Blizzard so that we can continue to cooperate And provide services for many dedicated players in China. However, we failed to reach an agreement on key terms. We attach great importance to our products and operating standards, and abide by our commitments to Chinese players.
Other On the one hand, the development and release of Diablo Immortal is protected by a separate agreement between Blizzard and NetEase and will not be affected. Blizzard will suspend sales “in the next few days” and Chinese players will soon receive information on how everything works Details on how.The upcoming releases of World of Warcraft: Dragon Rivalry, Hearthstone: Rise of the Lich King, and Overwatch 2 Season 2 will be released later this year.
Not yet It’s unclear exactly what caused this turn of events, but in a LinkedIn post, NetEase’s President of Global Investments and Partnerships, Simon Zhu, said of the situation: “One day, when what’s going on behind the scenes can be told, development Readers and gamers will have a whole new appreciation for how much. The damage a jerk can do”. So obviously this breakup doesn’t have to be peaceful.
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