These Top Blizzard Games Will Stop Working In China From January 2023

---

Some years back, you could only think of one thing whenever you hear of games, kids. But that is not the case any more in recent years. This is because the same kids that played most of these games in the past are the same adults today.

For this reasons, games have become a part of our everyday lives these days. Both adults and children play games now, being it a mobile game, console or PC game. As a matter of fact, the gaming industry has become a very lucrative one from hardware to software. This is why we now have the likes of gaming computers all over.

Talking of lucrative gaming industry, it’s the software department that benefits the most. I mean the game developers are the ones making the biggest revenue. Due to the huge income these developers make, they require licensing agreements in most countries in order to sell games in those countries.

But whenever there is licensing issue between any gaming company and another company in a particular nation, it affects the sales of games under such companies in that country. Example of such incidents is what is happening between Blizzard and NetEase, the second largest gaming company in China.

Blizzard Games Will Not Sell In China Anymore

From January 2023 the Warcraft game developers may not be able to sell most of their games in the world’s largest market. This is because they were unable to renew their license in China. The last time they signed such license agreement with NetEase was 14 years ago and that agreement will end in some few weeks time.

According to the company, the two parties (Blizzard and NetEase) has not been able to reach a deal that will enable them sign the agreements. These agreements consist of Blizzard’s operating principles and its commitment to players and workers.

NetEase Made A Statement On Why Blizzard Games Will Seize Sales In China

The CEO of NetEase, William Ding made an official statement about this. He said…

We have put in a great deal of effort and tried with our utmost sincerity to negotiate with Activision Blizzard. So that we could continue our collaboration and serve the many dedicated players in China. However, there were material differences on key terms. And we could not reach an agreement. We hold high regard in our product and operational standards. And abide by our commitments to Chinese players.

Nonetheless, this will not affect all games developed by Blizzard. Games such as Diablo Immortal is exempted because there is a separate agreement between Blizzard games and NetEase for this particular game.

For those games that this is going to affect, Blizzard will begin to seize sales very soon. Chinese gamers who play such games will soon receive details on how everything will work out. Games that are yet to release in the Chinese market such as World of Warcraft: Dragon fight. Hearthstone: March of the Lich King. And season 2 of Overwatch 2 will also proceed later.

What Could Be The Reason Why These Blizzard Games Won’t Work In China Anymore?

The cause of this whole happening is not clear. This is because non of the officials have made any comment on what is happening on the background.

But the president of global investment and partnership for NetEase Simon Zhu posted this on LinkedIn saying…

One day, when what has happened behind the scene could be told. Developers and gamers will have a whole new level of understanding of how much damage a jerk can make.

From the LinkedIn post, one can easily predict that all is not well between both parties. This whole thing does not seem to end here. As we keep following the final outcome of the event, we will share with our readers as soon as anything else comes out.