World Of Warcraft, one of the most significant online games in history, goes offline today in China.
Millions of gamers will be forced to say an emotional goodbye to their fantasy characters as a very public fallout between developer Blizzard and publisher NetEase ends a 14-year contract.
Warcraft, which was first released in North America in 2004, was initially given permission to launch in the notoriously restrictive Chinese video game market in 2005.
Since 2008, Blizzard’s massively multiplayer title has had its servers managed in China by NetEase, which also runs bespoke versions of a few other popular western games like Minecraft.
Blizzard – which is owned by Activision Blizzard, gaming giant Microsoft is trying to buy in a record $69bn (£56bn) takeover deal – first announced that its deal with NetEase would end last November.
This not only impacts Warcraft, which has around three million players in China, but also Blizzard’s other hits like the multiplayer shooter. Surveillancethe card game Hearthstone and the sci-fi strategy title Starcraft.
A nasty dispute becomes public
NetEase’s president of global investments, Simon Zhu, said he spent “10,000 hours” playing these games in a damning statement about the breakup.
“One day, when what happened behind the scenes can be told, developers and players will have a whole new level of understanding of the damage a fool can cause,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
NetEase rejected an offer earlier this month to extend the deal for six months, calling the proposal “commercially illogical” and accusing Blizzard of “seeking a divorce while remaining attached”.
Quoting a person close to Blizzard, Reuters news agency reported that the dispute was due to NetEase wanting structural changes that would impact the American company’s control over its intellectual property.
NetEase insisted that “all use and licensing of Blizzard’s intellectual property was made pursuant to the terms of the contract and with Blizzard’s consent and approval” throughout the 14-year agreement.
The companies previously renewed their original 2008 deal in 2019.
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Before the deal ended on Monday, Blizzard took the unusual step of allowing its Chinese Warcraft players to download their characters and progress, which for some will last for thousands and thousands of hours.
Their data will be available for in-game download if Blizzard finds a new distribution partner in China, which remains one of the most lucrative markets in the world. despite government restrictions.
NetEase’s rise to become the second-largest games company in China was largely driven by its partnership with Blizzard, but its own titles now account for more than 60% of its revenue.
The country’s industry leader is Tencent, which – in addition to making its own games – owns US gaming giant Riot, the company behind League of Legends; and has stakes in big Western developers like Fortnite maker Epic and Assassin’s Creed creators Ubisoft.
