Microsoft ‘s video game division and the Chinese multinational NetEase have just confirmed a few hours ago the consolidation of their new alliance to bring Activision-Blizzard-King’s games to Eastern lands once again. This news was shared by both companies through their respective press departments, confirming the return of iconic franchises such as World of Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft, among others, to the Chinese market in a timeframe yet to be determined.
A much anticipated return – Microsoft x NetEase
Rumors about this new rapprochement between the two multinationals had been going around since the end of March, after multiple analysts and industry insiders claimed to have knowledge of meetings that were taking place between Microsoft and its Asian counterpart. Thus, since early yesterday, many journalists close to this scoop considered that the announcement of this renewed agreement was imminent and that it was only a matter of hours for it to be made official through the spokespersons of both publishers.
In this way and through an attached statement, Johanna Faries, president of Blizzard Entertainment, assured to be totally grateful for reestablishing the partnership between Microsoft and NetEase:
We at Blizzard are excited to re-establish our partnership with NetEase and to be able to work together, with deep appreciation for the collaboration between the two teams, to bring our legendary gameplay experiences to all players in China.
Some comments by Chinese analysts also share these encouraging tones given the great influence this agreement will have on the Chinese company’s expansionary plans. This is shared by Jialong Shi, head of Internet cyber capital research at Nomura, who said: “This could be an important long-term boost for NetEase in its aspiration to increase its overseas exposure.
Recall that NetEase saw a 2% increase in its share price and 3% earnings growth during Wednesday’s stock market course, maintaining its position as the second largest video game company in China, being surpassed only by the giant Tencent.
It is worth mentioning that this new alliance between Microsoft and NetEase comes after the original agreement of almost 15 years between Blizzard and NetEase was terminated after certain discrepancies between the then executive board led by Bobby Kotick and the Chinese conglomerate. It was due to this decision that many games published by Activision-Blizzard-King stopped being available in China in January 2023, affecting millions of Chinese citizens, who lost access to their favorite games.
Thus, the renewed agreement between Microsoft and NetEase will allow Blizzard’ s star games such as World of Warcraft, Overwatch 2, Diablo Saga and other upcoming franchises to reach Chinese audiences starting next summer. This will be great news for other fans around the world, since the expansion of a company of this magnitude to such a massive territory as China will be a great starting point to greatly increase the sale of video games. With this, it will be possible to launch to the public not only more titles, but of an even higher quality than seen in recent years.
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