US video game producer Blizzard Entertainment will stop operations of World of Warcraft and its other famous online games in mainland China starting next Monday, Jan. 23.
This follows the unsuccessful negotiations with NetEase for a six-month extension of their license deal, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
End of the Deal
Blizzard's local office in China made a statement on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo on Tuesday, Jan. 18, saying that NetEase, located in Hangzhou, had declined the suggested extension provided the previous week.
In 2019, the two businesses entered into a new agreement that included a provision for a temporary extension.
Blizzard wrote in a statement, "NetEase is unwilling to extend the game service for six months based on the existing cooperation terms while we are looking for a new partner."
NetEase and Blizzard are a subsidiary of video game holding firm Activision Blizzard. They separately stated in November 2022 that their 14-year mainland license deal would end on Jan. 23 due to a lack of agreement.
The partnership covers Blizzard games like World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo III.
After the mainland team was dissolved, Blizzard offered a six-month extension.
An SCMP article from last week cited three anonymous sources saying that the majority of the staff working under NetEase subsidiary Shanghai EaseNet Network Technology had been laid off or reassigned internally.
China's second-largest gaming business NetEase stayed silent in response to Blizzard's announcement.
Next Agreement
The Weibo tweet published by Blizzard on Tuesday emphasized the company's determination to "not give up" and continue searching for a new partner with the same values about best serving its players in mainland China.
The significance of China's massive mainland market to the international video game business is reflected in Blizzard's plans to secure another license arrangement with a different Chinese partner.
China's semi-official gaming industry trade body, the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, said that the country's video games industry earned total revenue of 269.5 billion yuan ($40.1 billion) in 2022, down 10.3% from 2021, with a total number of players down 0.33% to 664 million.
Online Backlash
Despite this, tens of thousands of Blizzard's mainland users were unsatisfied with Blizzard's comments on the unsuccessful discussions with NetEase and took to Chinese social media to express their disappointment.
On Weibo, it quickly rose to the position of the most discussed issue.
Weibo user Ziranjuan questioned Blizzard, writing, "The [Shanghai] team has been disbanded, and you waited two weeks before negotiating with them to postpone [the suspension of services]?"
Weibo user Naxiaodu said they are now disinclined to play any Blizzard titles ever since the company fired the first shot to terminate the partnership.
Blizzard has announced on Weibo that mainland Chinese users of World of Warcraft would be able to save their game data on their own devices beginning this Wednesday, Jan. 18. This shall ease concerns about losing their progress if local services are ever halted.
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