Chinese gamers will be without World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and other games Blizzard: The American company is leaving China completely
Blizzard Entertainment is leaving China.
We learned about this from a press release posted on the website of the American game developer.
Here's What We Know
After 14 years of partnership between Blizzard Entertainment and Chinese partner NetEase, the parties could not come to an agreement on further cooperation.
As a result, Chinese gamers who will lose access to Blizzard projects such as World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Warcraft III: Reforged, Overwatch 2, the StarCraft series, Diablo III and Heroes of the Storm will suffer.
After January 23, 2023, Chinese players will lose access to these games.
Here's What We Know
Blizzard will stop selling Blizzard games in China in the coming days, but Dragonflight for World of Warcraft, the March of the Lich King set for Hearthstone and the second season of Overwatch 2 will be available until the partnership is finalized.
Separately, it is noted that the mobile game Diablo Immortal will remain in the Chinese market, as a separate agreement has been executed for its distribution.
NetEase and Blizzard have not ruled out the possibility that they will resume their partnership in the future, but at the moment "significant disagreements on key terms" preclude the return of the popular games to China.