This morning, Blizzard announced that its biggest games will soon return to China thanks to a new deal with NetEase. The deal brings all the games covered by the previous publishing agreement, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and other titles in the Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft universes, back to the Chinese market.
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.
We are immensely grateful for the passion the Chinese community has shown for Blizzard games throughout the years, and we are focused on bringing our universes back to players with excellence and dedication. – Blizzard
For those who don’t know, NetEase began publishing Blizzard games in mainland China in 2008, but that deal expired in January 2023 and was not renewed.
During this time, each company pointed their jaded broken-up-with finger at the other with NetEase releasing a statement saying:
We put in a great deal of effort and tried with our utmost sincerity to negotiate with Activision Blizzard, but material differences on key terms prevented a new deal from being reached.
Now it seems the two have decided to give their relationship a second chance, and a statement from Microsoft made the relationship official:
Blizzard and NetEase have done incredible work to renew our commitment to players. Blizzard’s universes have been part of players’ lives in the region for many years.
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.