Blizzard and NetEase's farewell fears that Chinese people will not be able to play 'Overwatch, Diablo III, Warcraft' etc., NetEase executives say 'stupid' remarks
On November 16, 2022, Blizzard Entertainment could not renew its license agreement with NetEase, which publishes the company's game titles for China, so in January 2023, almost all game services in China will be terminated. Announced. This could prevent Chinese players from playing popular games such as World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Warcraft III: Reforged, Overwatch, the StarCraft series, Diablo III, and Heroes of the Storm. I have.
Activision Blizzard | Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase Suspending Game Services in China
Blizzard Entertainment has signed a license agreement with Chinese game company NetEase since 2008, and NetEase has been responsible for publishing Blizzard Entertainment's game titles in China for many years.
by Kelly Hunter
However, Blizzard Entertainment will no longer be able to supply its games to China, as the current contract, which expires on January 23, 2023, could not be renewed. In addition, since we have a separate contract for joint development and publishing of 'Diablo Immortal' released in June 2022, it is not subject to this service termination.
As for the reason for the termination of the contract, Blizzard Entertainment explained, ``We were unable to agree on our management philosophy and commitment to our players and employees.'' NetEase also announced that there was a disagreement on an important point of the contract as well.
For Chinese players, new sales of games will be suspended in the next few days, and online game services such as 'Overwatch 2', which was just released in October 2022, will soon be announced. will be notified with detailed information.
Blizzard will be suspending #Overwatch2 , WoW, and other game services in China early next year ????????
— Overwatch Cavalry ???????? (@OverwatchCaval) November 17, 2022
The company is looking for alternatives to bring their games back to players in mainland China though, with their current agreements ending January 23, 2023. pic.twitter.com/3HGWLqCvDK
Blizzard Entertainment President Mike Ybarra said, 'We are extremely grateful for the passion the Chinese community has shown in the almost 20 years we have been bringing games to China through NetEase and other partners. Their enthusiasm and creativity inspire us to look for alternatives to bring our games to our players in the future,' he said, thanking Chinese players for their alternatives. I suggested that I was looking for.
'As a gamer who has spent 10,000 hours playing Azeroth, StarCraft, and Overwatch, I am deeply saddened to lose access to my account and memories in 2023,' said Simon Zhu, head of partnerships at NetEase. I think, one day when we can tell what happened behind the scenes, developers and gamers will realize a whole new level of how much damage idiots can do. ' I expressed my dissatisfaction.
It is unclear who exactly the 'jerk' Zhu mentioned is referring to, but it is pointed out that it may be Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.
NetEase's head of partnerships appears to be calling Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick “a jerk” over on LinkedIn ???? https://t.co/ZumaPmAru8 pic.twitter.com/Ceb1bP4Jom
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) November 17, 2022
'Blizzard Entertainment's games represent a low-single-digit percentage of our overall revenue, so license expirations will not have a material impact on NetEase's results,' NetEase explained. , NetEase's stock price fell by 15% immediately after the announcement of the suspension of contract renewal, and Bloomberg points out that ``the decline during trading hours was the largest in more than a year.''
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