Blizzard has struck a new deal to bring its games back to China a year and a half after parting ways with NetEase and the Microsoft-owned developer.
Blizzard confirmed that all games covered by the previous publishing agreement, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone “and other titles in the Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo and StarCraft universes,” will return to the Chinese market by summer 2024.
According to a statement on Blizzard’s website, Microsoft Gaming and NetEase have also entered into a separate agreement to explore launching new NetEase titles on Xbox consoles and other platforms.
“We at Blizzard are thrilled to re-establish our partnership with NetEase and work together – with great appreciation for the collaboration between our teams – to bring legendary gaming experiences to players in China,” said Johanna Faries, President of Blizzard Entertainment. “We are extremely grateful for the passion the Chinese community has shown for Blizzard games over the years, and we are focused on returning our universes to players with excellence and dedication.”
Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, agreed, saying: “Returning Blizzard’s iconic games to gamers in China while also finding ways to bring more new titles to Xbox shows our commitment to bringing more games to more players on the to make it accessible to the whole world.”
What happened between NetEase and Blizzard?
Since 2008, NetEase has been the publisher of Blizzard games in mainland China. However, this partnership ended when their agreement expired in January 2023 and was not renewed. Hangzhou-based NetEase previously said Blizzard games contributed only a low single-digit percentage of its revenue and profit. According to the rest of the world, World of Warcraft had over three million registered users in China at the time. The Chinese gaming industry is the largest in the world and includes industry giant Tencent Holdings.
“We have made great efforts and tried with the utmost sincerity to negotiate with Activision Blizzard so that we can continue our cooperation and serve the many dedicated gamers in China,” William Ding, founder and CEO of NetEase, said at the time. He added that “significant differences on key terms” had prevented a new agreement from being reached. However, Ding has since stated: “We are very excited to start the next chapter.”
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