Credit：Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard has been in talks with several Chinese game companies over relaunch of WoW, the popular massive multiplayer online role-playing game, and the American video game mogul finally chose to resume partnership with NetEase, its long term local partner for 14 years prior to the shutdown starting from January, Chinese news media outlet Cailian Press learned from multiple separate sources. If the new partnership sealed, Blizzard and NetEase need to rebuild their operation team and test the game servers and relevant systems, so it could take half of a year or more to bring back WoW, Cailian Press reported.

Blizaard and NetEase didn’t confirm the report yet, neither responded to it. The two game giants has not reached agreements on all the terms of cooperation, but their tie-up is very likely to materialize, Sina News later cited people close to NetEase.

Blizzard announced in October 2022 that it decided to suspend most Blizzard game services in mainland China, including WoW, Hearthstone Legend, Overwatch, StarCraft, Warcraft III: Reset, Diablo III, and Heroes of the Storm, upon the expiration of the existing licensing agreement with NetEase on Jan. 23, 2023. The move literally ends nearly 14 years’ cooperation between Blizzard and NetEase. NetEase was eager to continue its role as the agency, but Blizzard's demands for some key terms involving sustainable operations and the core interests of the Chinese market and players, are unacceptable, NetEase CEO Ding Lei commented.

The same month saw multiple reports said Blizzard was discussing with many potential Chinese companies  to reopen access to WoW. Tencent, Bytedance, The9,Perfect World, KongZhong and Bilibili, were said to be in talks over the license for WoW with Blizzard. While Tencent has contacted Blizzard at least one year for the license, there is low possibility to settle the deal because the WeChat owner is less likely to spend a lot in WoW when the gaming industry is weakening weighed by the risk of looming recession, Chinese financial magazine Caijing cited an insider at the company’s gaming unit.

NetEase said in January that it rejected a proposal from  Blizzard to extend partnership for six months. The Hangzhou-based internet company labeled the proposal “commercially illogical” and accused Blizzard, who made it clear that it would continue to negotiate with other potential partners over a new three-year contract, of seeking a divorce but still remaining attached.

Recently, talks about Blizzard’s return to China began to swirl. A number of video game streamers who mainly focus on titles of Blizzard suggested the dvelooper and publisher is about to restart services in China. In their note dated December 6, Morgan Stanley analysts expected Blizzard’s potential return to the Chinese market could open up new revenue opportunities for NetEase, as the leading online game company in the country has historically served as Blizzard’s partner in China. However, they believed the overall impact on NetEase’s revenue would be modest for its in-house games have already accounted for a significant portion of total sales. NetEase Dashen, a gaming community app, has begun to gradually update with new content on WoW since December 20, Chinese newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily reported last week. It added the app removed previous news about expiry of NetEase’s licensing deal.  

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