According to a recent press release by Blizzard, the company will be suspending its titles in China due to the expiration of its current licensing agreements with NetEase. Since 2008, Blizzard has worked with the Chinese-based company to deliver their AAA titles to gamers across China. This action leaves many in the gaming community shocked and wondering how this could happen.
Which Titles Does Blizzard Plan to Suspend?
According to Blizzard, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Warcraft III: Reforged, Overwatch, the StarCraft series, Diablo III, and Heroes of the Storm will not be available in China starting on January 23, 2023.
The release goes on to state:
“Upcoming releases for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Hearthstone: March of the Lich King, and season 2 of Overwatch 2 will proceed later this year.”
This is a little confusing, considering that they will suspend their other titles, but perhaps Blizzard Activision plans on moving forward in China without their Chinese partner, NetEase. All of this is speculation until we receive official word from Blizzard.
User Data May Be at the Center of the Suspensions
According to a Bloomberg report, an anonymous source familiar with the discussions said that the key sticking points included “ownership of intellectual property and control of data of millions of players across China.”
This is interesting, as Beijing-based company ByteDance, owners of the popular social media app, TikTok, have recently been under fire for user-collected data in the United States.
Caveats Included
The release by Blizzard makes sure to go into detail that these are still tentative plans that can change at any moment, providing a glimmer of hope to fans of Blizzard games in China. They go on to specify the ongoing pandemic and acquisition by Microsoft as two factors that may eventually reverse their decision.
While it might seem that negotiations between the two companies have stalled, there is some light at the end of the tunnel that they can come to an agreement in the upcoming months. Blizzard plans to update gamers in China in the coming days.
As one of the largest countries contributing to the esports scene, losing these key Blizzard titles is a significant blow. China generated 403.1 million dollars in esports gaming revenue in 2021, and the scene seems to continue growing.
What this means for future titles and esports in China is yet to be seen, but we’ll keep you updated in our News Section.
We’ve reached out to Blizzard on this story but have not received a response for comment.
