Blizzard distributes games like World of Warcraft, Overwatch 2, and Diablo 3 in China through a local partner: NetEase. However, the partnership was not renewed at the end of 2022. Now the deadline is approaching, and the games will no longer be playable. Blizzard is losing a lot of potential players as a result.
Update: We have specified the number of potential players with new data.
What kind of deal is this?
- To distribute games in China, foreign companies need a corresponding partner within China itself. For Blizzard, this was NetEase for 14 years.
- In November 2022, the two corporations announced: they would not renew the partnership, almost all games will go offline in China.
- The contract is still supposed to run until January 23, but then it will be over if Blizzard does not find new partners. They apparently have not found a new partner.
This is the latest status: As the news agency Reuters explains, Blizzard and NetEase have tried to find an agreement in the past weeks. The current deal was supposed to continue for 6 months.
At the same time, Blizzard has been looking for other potential partners in China. However, NetEase has refused cooperation, and no other partner has so far promised Blizzard to enter into a partnership with them. This means that at least 7 Blizzard games will disappear from China by January 23:
- World of Warcraft
- Overwatch 2
- Hearthstone
- Diablo 3
- Warcraft 3: Reforged
- StarCraft 2
- Heroes of the Storm
These games will no longer be playable. Diablo 2: Resurrected has an offline mode, so it is likely to remain available – currently, there is no information about this.
The mobile game Diablo Immortal runs under a separate deal and will continue to be supported.
China, according to the latest census from 2023, currently has 1.4 billion inhabitants (via Tagesschau). The statistical website Statista reports 666 million gamers in the Middle Kingdom. The country is thus the “most lucrative gaming market in the world.”
The Blizzard games are extremely popular in China, and the company is losing a large number of potential players as a result.
The latest expansion of WoW, Dragonflight, is meeting with great success. It was only playable for a short time in China. Here is the trailer:
Blizzard and NetEase accuse each other
Why are NetEase and Blizzard separating? The two parties did not come to an agreement on new contractual conditions. The corporations blame each other for the situation.
Blizzard states that NetEase has rejected all offers (via Bloomberg).
NetEase, on the other hand, asserts that Blizzard made impossible demands. Furthermore, they felt uncomfortable because only a new contract for 6 months was offered, while all other partners received 3 years.
The president of global investments and partnerships at NetEase, Simon Zhu, earlier stated that “one ass alone” was responsible for the failure to reach a new deal. In a new post on LinkedIn, he emphasizes again how unfortunate it is for them all as gamers that the partnership is ending.
The Chinese giant Tencent has seized the opportunity and is bringing a new MMORPG that looks a lot like World of Warcraft:
What comes next? Chinese players can secure and archive their accounts through a new system from Blizzard so that they regain access as soon as a new trade partner is found.
NetEase has already expressed security concerns regarding this since the technology behind it comes entirely from Blizzard. However, there is currently no other solution. All unused gameplay time and currencies can be refunded.
Whether and how it will continue with Blizzard in China remains open. Some voices claim that at the latest due to the deal with Microsoft new interested parties can be found quickly in China.
However, this deal has also been precarious for some time. Many regulatory authorities are raising concerns, even in Europe. Particularly, the biggest competitor Sony is repeatedly trying to prevent Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard:
Microsoft says: 4 big games are not coming for the Xbox – and Sony is to blame
