Blizzard is not only the developer of its own games, but usually also the publisher – except in China. Here, all Blizzard games are published by “NetEase”. The partnership started in 2008, when they wanted to establish StarCraft 2 and the Battlenet (now soon to be called “Blizzard Tech”) on the market.
Since then, they have also been able to release other games in collaboration, such as World of Warcraft and Hearthstone. Both parties are particularly pleased that they have managed to release games simultaneously with the global release in recent years – something that many other manufacturers fail to do.
Blizzard has extended its collaboration with NetEase until January 2020 – although there are no signs that it may end afterward.
Cortyn says: The reason Blizzard does not launch its games in China itself is likely due to various reasons. The release of World of Warcraft more than a decade ago failed due to various legal issues – back then, the bones of undead models could not be shown and censorship was required first. Following the motto “Never change a running system”, they probably maintain the partnership now – because no one knows the Chinese market as well as the Chinese do.
You can find more news and articles about Blizzard’s MMORPG on our World of Warcraft game page.
