Blizzard games will be returning to China under new NetEase agreement

by Danny Craig ·

Blizzard Entertainment

Activision Blizzard and Chinese publisher NetEase have renewed their partnership, allowing Blizzard's titles to return to China after being pulled at the end of their previous agreement last year.

The details:

The original 14-year deal between the two publishers expired in January 2023. As a result, services for all Blizzard games were suspended, including Overwatch, Diablo, Starcraft, World of Warcraft, and others, in mainland China. This also caused problems for Chinese Overwatch League teams, prompting many to relocate and the Chengdu Hunters to disband.
Blizzard has now announced a new partnership with NetEase, and its games will once again be available in China. It's unclear when games will be reintroduced, but the agreement is expected to go into effect within the next few months.
Microsoft Gaming has also reached an agreement with NetEase that will allow the Chinese publisher to explore releasing its titles on Xbox consoles and other platforms, which could possibly refer to Game Pass.

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