Battle with NetEase ends, peace deal will see games cross the Great Firewall - in both directions
Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has produced an unexpected dividend: the developer's signature games will once again be playable in China.released on Wednesday revealed that Blizzard titles – including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and other titles in the Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft universes – would return to mainland China beginning northern summer 2024.
Blizzard previously had a deal with Chinese internet and video game company NetEase that saw its games available within the Middle Kingdom.Negotiations between Blizzard and NetEase went public and got ugly. Players were informed they could download files that recorded their progress, in hopes that one day a deal to bring the games – and character profiles that were painstakingly built up over years of play – back to China.
Wednesday's announcement broke the news:"Separately, Microsoft Gaming and NetEase have also entered into an agreement to explore bringing new NetEase titles to Xbox consoles and other platforms." That’s a rate item of good news in the recent history of Sino/American tech collaboration. And also one that has the potential to produce profits for NetEase and expose the world’s gamers to Chinese tech -a soft power play of the sort that saw the likes of Nintendo become a flag-bearer for Japanese culture. Microsoft might one day help NetEase do the same.
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