Blizzard Games to Return to China Under New Agreement With NetEase

Blizzard has announced that its games will return to mainland China in summer 2024 after nearly a year and a half of market shutdown. Additionally, Microsoft (which now owns Blizzard) and NetEase have entered into another separate agreement to bring NetEase games to Xbox and other platforms.

Blizzard’s games were taken offline in China in January 2023 after NetEase and Blizzard failed to reach a new publishing deal. However, both companies have now reached one. The deal will include all games that Chinese players had access to under the previous deal, including Overwatch, Diablo and World of Warcraft.

As both parties work to revive the games, more details will be revealed at a later date. Phil Spencer commented on Microsoft’s new partnership with NetEase, saying: “Bringing Blizzard’s legendary games back to Chinese gamers while exploring ways to bring more new titles to Xbox demonstrates our commitment to bringing more games to more gamers in the world. » However, Spencer did not provide any further details.

Thanks to the incredible work accomplished by @Blizzard_Ent and NetEase to renew our commitment to gamers, we will soon welcome millions of community members in China back to our Blizzard worlds. This is exciting for everyone at Xbox, Blizzard, and gamers everywhere. Read more: https://t.co/JKuZAH6bLj

-Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) April 10, 2024

This new deal comes after Blizzard and NetEase had a bit of a falling out in November 2022, when their original publishing deal was set to expire. Blizzard China and NetEase were pointing fingers at each other, with the former offering to expand its services, but the latter turning it down, with a NetEase executive saying the initial extension of the deal fell apart due to a Specific “fool.”

Regardless, Blizzard vowed to look for alternative ways to bring its games back to the Chinese market, but ultimately reached a new deal with NetEase.

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