Due to a dispute between Blizzard and NetEase, Blizzard games will no longer be released in China from 2023
Blizzard games will not be released in China. China, one of the company’s largest markets, and Chinese players will not be able to access World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Diablo 3, Starcraft and Heroes of the Storm games from January 23, 2023. The reason for this is that Blizzard cannot be agreed with the publishing company NetEase, which it has been collaborating with since 2008.
Blizzard games won’t be released in China
Blizzard Entertainment used the following statements in its statement on the subject;
“We did not renew the agreement because an agreement could not be reached between the parties according to criteria that match Blizzard’s operating principles and the satisfaction of its players.”
On the NetEase side, CEO William Ding made the following statement;
” We made a great effort to get the games to our players in China by contracting with Activision Blizzard and tried to be as candid as possible. However, we were unable to reach agreement on key issues.”
The sale of Blizzard games will be stopped in China in the coming period. However, the pre-dated World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Hearthstone: March of the Lich King, and the second season of Overwatch 2 will come out as planned. It is unclear whether future updates to these games will be implemented in China. However, it should be noted that Diablo Immortal, one of Blizzard’s most important resources, will continue without any problems in China. Because the co-producer of the game is Chinese giant Tencent and the game is subject to a different license agreement.