Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase Suspending Services in China on January 23, 2023

Blizzard Posted 2022/11/16 at 8:33 PM by perculia

Edit:hereEdit 2:longer statement

Blizzard

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 16, 2022-- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that it will be suspending most Blizzard game services in mainland China due to the expiration of the current licensing agreements with NetEase, Inc. on January 23, 2023. This includes World of Warcraft®, Hearthstone®, Warcraft® III: Reforged, Overwatch®, the StarCraft® series, Diablo III®, and Heroes of the Storm®. Diablo Immortal® co-development and publishing is covered under a separate agreement between the two companies.

Blizzard Entertainment has had licensing agreements with NetEase since 2008, covering the publication of these Blizzard titles in China. 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, and the agreements are set to expire in January 2023.

We will suspend new sales in the coming days and Chinese players will be receiving details of how this will work soon. Upcoming releases for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Hearthstone: March of the Lich King, and season 2 of Overwatch 2 will proceed later this year.

“We’re immensely grateful for the passion our Chinese community has shown throughout the nearly 20 years we’ve been bringing our games to China through NetEase and other partners,” said Mike Ybarra, president, Blizzard Entertainment. “Their enthusiasm and creativity inspire us, and we are looking for alternatives to bring our games back to players in the future.”

Activision Blizzard Third Quarter 2022 Financial ResultsCurrently, we have licensing agreements with a third party covering the publication of several Blizzard titles in China. These agreements, which contributed approximately 3% of Activision Blizzard's consolidated net revenues in 2021, expire in January 2023. We are in discussions regarding the renewal of these agreements, but a mutually-satisfactory deal may not be reached. We continue to see substantial long-term growth opportunities for our business in the country. The co-development and publishing of Diablo Immortal is covered by a separate long-term agreement.

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Comment by SmioThat's hugeComment by AmalioThat sounds really bad, but was unfortunately expected after the recent earning's call. China is a huge market and this will mean a massive drop in revenue and thus financial resources for WoW.

Edit: A lot of people seem to be mistaking this as Blizzard taking a stance against the CCP and their actions. It is not. They simply didn't reach a worthwile agreement. This was a simple business decision, not political activism.Comment by FooysariHope they reach a new deal at some point cuz that's gonna hurt the bottom line a lot if they can't sell their games in China anymore.Comment by IgnitheusWelp. There goes the China player base. Thats really gotta suck for them.Comment by RaithanWoah, massive.Comment by fatgunnWell then.....Sucks to be a Chinese player at the moment.Comment by McQueen101maybe they'll let us buy those mounts/pets now.......Comment by AkiyamaLightThis sounds extremely worrying. A big part of their revenue comes from China. Also a shame for all the chinese players, of course.Comment by ApollomantisThis is actually huge and I'm curious what blizzard is going to do about losing this market, in terms of whether they'll partner with someone else, or simply never return. Along with curious as to what brought about them not renewing with netease, as I know they were a point of contention within the Chinese market for a long time.Comment by kingbeaver13That sounds really bad, but was unfortunately expected after the recent earning's call. China is a huge market and this will mean a massive drop in revenue and thus financial resources for WoW.Comment by My71c4lOooo. I hope they don't reach an agreement.Comment by SknilegapThat sounds really bad, but was unfortunately expected after the recent earning's call. China is a huge market and this will mean a massive drop in revenue and thus financial resources for WoW.Comment by adscottGood, maybe they'll put more effort into their games now and game companies much like film will realise they don't need the Chinese market to stay afloat?
Doctor Strange 2 proved this with film, now it's time for Blizz to go hard, listen to the fanbase and make this happen in games with Dragonflight and D4.Comment by ShredowSeems like NetEase wanted to turn every game into a Diablo Immortal tier #$%^fest and Blizzard said no. Hopefully, another company will step up to publish Blizzard properties in China because the loss of revenue could have a ripple effect company wide otherwise. Though, keep in mind that NetEase ate up alot of the profit from China so it isn't as overwhelmingly gigantic as one might think at first glance.

That sounds really bad, but was unfortunately expected after the recent earning's call. China is a huge market and this will mean a massive drop in revenue and thus financial resources for WoW.Comment by SknilegapThat sounds really bad, but was unfortunately expected after the recent earning's call. China is a huge market and this will mean a massive drop in revenue and thus financial resources for WoW.Oooo. I hope they don't reach an agreement.Comment by My71c4lGood, maybe they'll put more effort into their games now and game companies much like film will realise they don't need the Chinese market to stay afloat?
Doctor Strange 2 proved this with film, now it's time for Blizz to go hard, listen to the fanbase and make this happen in games with Dragonflight and D4.Comment by sheppy31Doesn't Blizzard have to change the game and it's story to appease the Chinese market or censorship or something? Maybe less of a loss, sounds like it cost them money to have a different version than EU and NA.Comment by My71c4lDoesn't Blizzard have to change the game and it's story to appease the Chinese market or censorship or something? Maybe less of a loss, sounds like it cost them money to have a different version than EU and NA.Comment by m2geekThat's really sad, feel sorry for all the Chinese players :(Comment by zerocornin before Alodar reads this

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