NetEase and Blizzard divorce, World of Warcraft, Diablo and company will soon be inaccessible in China


The death knell of the relationship between NetEase and Blizzard definitely rang. Cancellation of a mobile game World of Warcraftdeveloped in collaboration between the two industry giants, showed us the first signs of a discord, but it is now clearer today with the announcement of the end of a partnership, which allowed NetEase to distribute Blizzard games on Chinese territory.

Blizzard gives up on China

Blizzard and NetEase will therefore stop collaborating in the coming weeks. No agreement to continue this collaboration was reached, and according to NetEase, it was Blizzard who ended the relationship:

We have put in a lot of effort and sincerely tried to negotiate with Activision Blizzard so that we can continue our collaboration and serve the many dedicated gamers in China. However, there were significant differences on key points and we could not reach an agreement. »

Blizzard indicates for its part that the two parties have not been able to agree on principles dear to Blizzard concerning players and its employees. It’s hard to know what really happened at the moment.

The impacts of this separation will very quickly be visible, since from January 23, 2023, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch 2, Diablo III or the games StarCraft will no longer be distributed in China. Only Diablo Immortal will survive through a separate agreement between the two groups.

If NetEase indicates that this will not affect its income, we imagine that it is not the same thing for Blizzard, especially on the eve of the arrival of a new extension for World of Warcraft. It is not yet known if the group will turn to another publisher to distribute its titles in China. Tencent, maybe?



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