Engadget RSS Feed-Blizzard games are returning to China this summer
April 10, 2024 2 min 359 words
这篇报道揭示了游戏产业中的一项重要发展：暴雪娱乐公司的游戏将在今年夏季回归中国市场。这是暴雪与其长期合作伙伴网易达成新的许可协议后的结果，标志着两家公司之间的磋商最终取得了成果。这无疑是中国的游戏玩家们的一大喜讯，他们将有机会再次享受到《魔兽世界》、《守望先锋2》等热门游戏。然而，暴雪和网易需要解决的技术问题仍然存在，这将对游戏重新上线的时间产生影响。此外，这一发展也可能对暴雪的利润产生积极影响，特别是考虑到《守望先锋》在中国的巨大受欢迎程度。总的来说，这是一个令人鼓舞的消息，预示着中国游戏市场的进一步繁荣。
Blizzard’s games will once again be available in China, over 15 months after titles such as World of Warcraft and Overwatch 2 went offline in the planet's largest gaming market. Blizzard has renewed its licensing agreement with long-time partner NetEase and many of its games will return to mainland China in the coming months.
NetEase oversaw Blizzard games in China for 15 years, but their agreement expired in January 2023, leading to the likes of Hearthstone and Starcraft shutting down in the country. The two sides had kept discussions going over the last year and they finally reached a new deal.
It'll take a little while for Blizzard and NetEase to resolve technical issues and get things in place for the relaunch, but the games are expected to come back online in China starting this summer. According to Bloomberg, players will be able to resume progress they’d previously made on their accounts.
Blizzard could be set for a notable boost to its bottom line with its games coming back to China. Overwatch is one of its more popular games there — the country is said to have made up most of the Overwatch League’s viewership in the circuit’s later seasons. One pro team based in China didn’t play at all during OWL’s final season in 2023.
In addition, Chinese players will for the first time officially be able to play Diablo IV, which Blizzard released last June and was an instant hit. (Diablo Immortal remained available in China during the spat with NetEase as that game was subject to a separate agreement.)
Meanwhile, Blizzard’s parent company Microsoft has struck a separate deal with NetEase. They’ll explore the possibility of bringing NetEase games to Xbox consoles and other platforms.
“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,” Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, said in a statement. “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.”