Blizzard is preparing Chinese players for the possible end of "World of Warcraft," feared by both Alliance and Horde Blizzard primarily publishes its own games, but its titles have been distributed in China by NetEase for 14 years. Blizzard's games are immensely popular in China, and the news immediately sent NetEase's stock plummeting (open in new tab).

NetEase boss William Ding said at the time that "there were significant differences on key terms" and claimed that the company was running the Activision Blizzard properties at a loss. Activision Blizzard recently announced that its contract with NetEase accounted for about 3% of its net revenues last fiscal year, with sales of $264 million (£223 million). [That's because the Chinese government last year limited children's access to online gaming to one hour on Fridays, weekends, and holidays. World of Warcraft has an estimated 3 million players in China, but even so, the potential for a one-hour session on weekends is huge.

All video games require Chinese publisher and government licenses to operate in China, and the CCP is paying increasingly close attention to the content of foreign titles. With all new Blizzard games no longer being sold in the region, other Chinese publishers may be scrambling to get a slice of the pie, and finding an alternative partner may prove to be a slow process.

Blizzard's focus now is on these players and their investment in the game. Getting a new publishing partner is one thing, but transitioning players whose characters may be frozen during the limbo period will also be key.

John Hight, general manager of the "Warcraft" series, released a letter to Chinese players earlier this week, stating that Blizzard is "working hard to develop the ability to save game characters, props, and progress" (Thanks, CNN ( opens in new tab)) and emphasized that the company is still looking for a new distributor; Hight said Blizzard and NetEase are working together on a transition plan and will announce in January 2023 how players can back up their progress It is.

This is the same month that NetEase's WoW servers will be shut down, so cut a little better there, and given the schedule, it seems likely that WoW in China will go down: even if it turns out to be only temporary.

Blizzard titles that will not be available in China unless the developer finds a new local partner are Overwatch, Diablo 3, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Starcraft 2, and God Bless Heroes of the Storm.