Microsoft’s Blizzard resumes NetEase partnership, bringing World of Warcraft back to Chinese players after bitter break-up

Blizzard Entertainment, the video game giant behind World of Warcraft, is resuming its partnership with NetEase under its new owner Microsoft, marking a revival of the most enduring US-China video game partnership that had an acrimonious break-up over a year ago.

“After continuing discussions over the past year, both Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase are thrilled to align on a path forward to once again support players in mainland China and are proud to reaffirm their commitment to delivering exceptional gaming experiences,” according to the statement.

Chinese regulators retract gaming rule proposal after stock market turmoil

Last January, the two companies suspended services for all Blizzard titles in the mainland, except for Diablo Immortal, a mobile title co-developed by NetEase and Blizzard, as their 14-year partnership came to an end. Both sides blamed each other for treating Chinese players badly after failing to agree to new terms to extend the deal.

The latest announcement comes five months after US tech giant Microsoft finalised its US$68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment.

Separately, the new deal also deepens cooperation between Microsoft and NetEase, aiming to bring new NetEase titles to Xbox consoles and other platforms, according to the 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,” said Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

The news sparked excitement from Chinese players on social media. The return of Blizzard was the top trending topic on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo immediately after the announcement, achieving over 100 million views within two hours.

“I’ve been wandering in foreign servers for over a year, and finally I can come back home,” one Weibo user commented.

However, there is still work to be done before the games become available for Chinese players. NetEase is looking to hire positions including game operations planners, engineers and project managers for World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and Overwatch under its gaming studio Leihuo, according to new job posts on Wednesday.