Imagine paying for a game, devoting hours and hours to it, making it a big part of your life and then having it yanked out from under you – all because of faraway negotiations gone sour.
That’s what gamers in China are set to face on 23 January 2023, when Blizzard Entertainment ends its licensing agreements with NetEase after 14 years. This means that beloved games like World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Heroes of The Storm, and Overwatch 2 will be blocked.
Up till now, game developer Blizzard has partnered NetEase, a Chinese Internet company, to operate Chinese versions of popular games like Starcraft 2, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft. Now that both parties have decided not to renew the agreements, sales of the games are being halted in China. Once the agreement officially expires in January, Blizzard game services will no longer be supported.
This decision affects many people all over China, from fans to online content creators whose livelihoods depend on these games.
In Blizzard’s official press release, it said that “the two parties have not reached a deal to renew the agreements that is consistent with Blizzard’s operating principles and commitments to players and employees,” which seems to indicate that they were unhappy with the proposed terms.
In a statement, CEO of NetEase Mr William Ding stated that “there were material differences on key terms and we could not reach an agreement”. Yikes.
Fans of all nationalities chipped in to give their two cents on this development.
It is worth noting that the game Diablo Immortal won’t be affected by this turn of events, as it’s covered by a separate agreement.
Rumours from Chinese publication Guancha are circulating now, saying that Blizzard made unreasonable requests that NetEase just could not accept. Mr Simon Zhu, President of Global Investment and Partnership at NetEase, wrote a scathing LinkedIn post blaming Blizzard. In the post, he says “One day, when what has happened behind the scene could be told, developers and gamers will have a whole new level [of] understanding of how much damage a jerk can make. Feel terrible for players who lived in those worlds.” I guess we know NetEase’s position on all this.
Going forward, it’s tough to say what will happen. One thing’s for sure though. Once 23 January rolls around, a lot of people are suddenly going to have a lot of free time on their hands.
