World Of Warcraft And Other Blizzard Games Will Return To China With A New NetEase Deal

Remember the nasty breakup last year betwen NetEase and Activision Blizzard? Accusations were flung, statues were torn down, and China lost access to Blizzard's games, including MMORPG World of Warcraft.

In the interim since then, a lot has changed. First, the sale of Activision to Microsoft has completed. Second, leadership at Blizzard has changed with Bobby Kotick's departure at the end of 2023. Around that same time, we started seeing rumors that the companies were talking about reuniting and yesterday rumors were swirling. Turns out, they were true.

Those changes, and a long series of negotiations, have finally seen some fruit as Blizzard, Microsoft, and NetEase are getting the band back together to bring Blizzard products back to China. Games will be back on by summer of this year.

“We at Blizzard are thrilled to reestablish our partnership with NetEase and to work together, with deep appreciation for the collaboration between our teams, to deliver legendary gaming experiences to players in China,” said Johanna Faries, President of Blizzard Entertainment in the official announcement.

Even Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, got in on the dropping quotes game, "Returning Blizzard’s legendary games to players in China while exploring ways to bring more new titles to Xbox demonstrates our commitment to bringing more games to more players around the world."

From the NetEase side, CEO and Director William Ding was very excited to be back in the business of supporting Blizzard titles and made sure to bring up "trust" in his comment, “Celebrating our collaborations, we are thrilled to embark on the next chapter, built on trust and mutual respect, to serve our users in this unique community that we’ve built together.”

Exact dates for the "re-launch" of WoW, Hearthstone, Diablo, Overwatch and other Blizzard titles are still forthcoming.

Our legendary worlds are for all to share & that includes our passionate Chinese community.

We are pleased to announce a new agreement with NetEase to bring Blizzard games back to mainland China. Thank you for your patience & support.

🔗 https://t.co/zE5XkmE84K pic.twitter.com/W4kxz1XcPF

— Blizzard Entertainment (@Blizzard_Ent) April 10, 2024