Some players of World of Warcraft can admire a new, massive statue. After the old one was destroyed in anger, there is now a new, golden version of it.
For Chinese players, it was quite a disaster when Blizzard and the Chinese partner NetEase could not negotiate a deal. For several months, most Blizzard games were unavailable in China, and many years of invested playtime appeared to be lost – especially the characters from World of Warcraft.
In anger, NetEase destroyed a large Orc weapon statue back then – only to now rebuild a gilded version of it.
Why was the old statue demolished? This happened more or less in an angry reaction. When it became clear that Blizzard and NetEase could not come to an agreement regarding the contract extension for the games in China, NetEase was quite offended. So much so that they quickly hosted a livestream and destroyed the old statue on camera – and incidentally insulted Blizzard a bit.
Or, to put it briefly: the relationship was more than strained.
WoWhead has shown some pictures of the new statue:
Why is there now a new statue? After several months in which especially the Chinese Blizzard fans had to suffer because they could no longer access their beloved games and were also unsure whether their characters would ever be playable again, new negotiations took place. Blizzard has once again come to an agreement with NetEase, which has also led to Chinese players experiencing some special events in WoW.
Along with this came the unveiling of a new Blood Fury statue, which this time is shown in its Lightforged form. Some see it as a hint towards an upcoming plot in the story, as a “Lightforged Blood Fury” suggests that Yrel and the Mag’har Orcs from the alternative Draenor might reappear – but perhaps they simply chose the golden design because it looks really cool.
Would you also like to have a 15-meter axe in your front yard? Or would you rather wait for the Orc who is capable of holding this axe in hand? In any case, Chinese players can now use the time to level up quickly before The War Within – as some only need 30 minutes to get a character to level 70.
