Chinese company NetEase announced Wednesday that it has signed a deal to distribute titles from Microsoft's Blizzard Entertainment, giving Chinese gamers access to popular video games like World of Warcraft.
More than a year ago, NetEase and Blizzard ended their long-running partnership when renewal negotiations turned sour, with both sides accusing each other of bad faith negotiations. There was an uproar among Chinese gamers angry that they lost access to a number of popular titles from Blizzard's parent company, American game developer Activision Blizzard.
NetEase announced Wednesday that it has reached a new deal with Microsoft, which acquired Activision Blizzard in a $69 billion deal in October. The two companies also announced an agreement to distribute NetEase titles on Microsoft's Xbox game console.
“We are excited to embark on our next chapter, built on trust and mutual respect, and to serve our users in this unique community we have built together,” NetEase CEO William Ding said in a statement. We are excited to be able to offer this.”
NetEase and Blizzard first signed a distribution agreement in 2008, which proved to be beneficial for both parties. NetEase gained access to globally popular titles and Blizzard secured a foothold in what would become the world's largest video game market. At one time, World of Warcraft was the most popular online game in China.
China's gaming industry has been in turmoil in recent years. The Chinese government has been trying to curb online gaming, expressing concern that addiction to online games could corrupt young Chinese. The government has introduced legislation to ban children from playing online games during school hours and limit gaming to one hour on weekends and holidays.
Last year, regulators proposed rules that would impose spending limits on video game platforms and prohibit minors from tipping video game live streamers, a common way to support online influencers. But regulators withdrew the proposal after the video game company's stock price plummeted.
A New York Times bankruptcy investigation published last year said the government crackdown further complicated negotiations between Activision and NetEase.
NetEase and Blizzard say Chinese gamers will still have to wait several months before they can resume playing titles such as Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, Hearthstone and StarCraft. The companies said they needed time to make “technical preparations” such as restoring data and building new server facilities. They said they are aiming for the first game to be released in the “summer”, but no names were disclosed.
The announcement of the new agreement was widely shared on Weibo, China's version of X, but the reaction was mostly negative. Some people still seemed upset that the game hasn't been available for over a year, while others accused Blizzard of disrespecting Chinese gamers. One source said users aren't “cheap” enough to come back as soon as the game returns.