Activision Blizzard announce Chinese game suspensions

Activision Blizzard is halting almost all live-service game operations in China due to a failure to renew a contract.

In a public press release, Activision Blizzard announced that most Blizzard game services in China would be suspended on January 23, due to a failure to renew a contract deal with NetEase, a Chinese game publisher.

NetEase has been the primary publisher for Blizzard in China since 2008, including publishing games like World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, StarCraft, Overwatch and more.

All of those titles will be suspended starting January 23 — the only live-service game from Blizzard to survive the deal will be Diablo: Immortal, which is “covered under a separate agreement between the two companies”.

“We’re immensely grateful for the passion our Chinese community has shown throughout the nearly 20 years we’ve been bringing our games to China through NetEase and other partners,” Blizzard president Mike Ybarra said.

“Their enthusiasm and creativity inspire us, and we are looking for alternatives to bring our games back to players in the future.”

Blizzard states that the upcoming expansion, Dragonflight, should still launch without issue later this month. Picture: Activision Blizzard

As a result of this announcement, NetEase’s stock has dropped 12 points today. As Forbes reports, 3 per cent of Activision Blizzards net revenue comes from China alone — and these live-service suspensions will affect many of the Chinese esports teams, including those currently participating in leagues like the Overwatch League.

In other Activision Blizzard news, the back-and-forth regarding the Microsoft $100 billion acquisition deal continues. Phil Spencer, CEO of Xbox, stated that the deal was not “all about Call of Duty,” and instead, was focused more on the mobile game offerings the company brings. Activision Blizzard owns King, which is responsible for Candy Crush Saga.

The European Commission also recently stated that it would like to investigate the acquisition deal further, stating that a planned “phase 2” investigation will take place. This follows a similar request by the UK’s governing body, and was sparked due to the “potential economic incentive” of locking competitors out of Activision Blizzard games.

Finally, the newest World of Warcraft expansion, Dragonflight, launches November 28 — and if you want to dive into this new world of dragons, you’ll want to check out the interviews we conducted with Blizzard about UX improvements, class balance, and the new class/race combination: the Dracthyr Evoker.

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.