Blizzard is in talks for renewing their contract with NetSlease
Blizzard sales are good and all, but the increase on botting is one of the side-effects.
Just logged into D2R not long ago. Holy macaroni.
Just thought to add what’s up with the increase in botting.
I’m not sure that’s going to be possible. The CCP is doubling down on the gaming restrictions. Every Chinese gaming related company on the Hong Kong stock market just took a huge hit. If the CCP drives them into bankruptcy Microsoft gaming won’t be able to operate in China at all. Foreign companies can’t operate in China without a CCP approved Chinese partner.
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well at one time they had decent community management staff that kept track of such but despite claims of an increased quarterly profits Blizzard laid off over 800 people the majority of them being staffers whose sole duty was answering tickets and investigating cheating and other ToS/EULA violations
What is “NetSlease”?
What are you talking about? The last time there was a layoff in CS it was 2012 when they laid off 600 people in CS and related jobs. They most certainly have not laid off 800 CS folks at Blizzard, or even 800 people at Blizzard.
Are you talking about 2019? ATVI laid off 800 people, of those 209 were at Blizzard. If so that was not really CS. It was mostly front facing positions in marketing, PR, Publications, Esports, Community (forum CMs),
You can read about it here and at the end is the PDF that Blizzard sent by law to the State of CA listing the positions being laid off. You can only find a dozen or so even related to CS.
The department that took the biggest hit by the Blizzard layoffs was IT, which lost 41 employees. Marketing and Live Experiences lost 29 employees each, followed by a global insight department. The rest of those impacted were spread across a variety of departments including publishing, quality assurance, mobile, marketing, customer service, finance, and Battle.Net. The full list of layoffs by department is at the bottom of this story.
Also, Community Managers have nothing to do with the Hacks team that investigates hacking/cheating, or the GMs/CS folks who answer tickets.
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Fact-checking? On an internet? What in the hecking heck is this?!
Merry Christmas, y’all.
I’m puzzled by the post. A 3000% increase in botting in Diablo III because of NetEase? (One presumes OP meant D:I but I’m amazed anyone still plays that, either.)
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Blizzard was almost completely locked out of China for almost a year after having a break with NetEase. Now things have changed again.
" Context: Blizzard announced in November 2022 that it would suspend its game services in China due to the expiration of its licensing agreements with NetEase. However, Microsoft’s acquisition of Blizzard this year and the upcoming resignation of Blizzard’s CEO have brought about a turning point in the relationship between Blizzard and NetEase."
From TechNode
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Netease nor Blizzard has released any official news. So far it’s just rumors. With previous conflict, it’s very difficult for them to get back into partnership, where profit% can’t reach an agreement. Netease demands 2x increase in profit cut. Blizzard demands contracts renewed at 2014 price points, ignoring 8 years of inflations. Non of these companies worth supporting.
These recent rumors are widely perceived at slowing their stock crashings rather than concrete news.
Until netease released formal news, take it as pinch of salt.
" According to a new report from Chinese news site 36Kr, Blizzard and NetEase have struck a new licensing agreement to return to the country. The Diablo developer was reportedly in talks with multiple Chinese publishers before ultimately renewing its partnership with NetEase. Chinese laws require foreign studios to partner with a local gaming company in order to acquire a license to operate within the territory.
Diablo Immortal is the only game currently available in the Chinese market as it is covered by a separate licensing agreement between Blizzard and NetEase."
From MSN
So yeah, I wouldn’t count this as a done deal. Also, it will take NetEase months to rebuild their server infrastructure if it turns out to be true. The CCP may force Microsoft to go through the entire content approvals process again before anything happens. Blizzard doesn’t get a say in this it’s Microsoft at the wheel now.
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Thank you! I always appreciate context and a source. It was to be expected really. MS wants access to the market in China I assume and the only way to do that is to use a Chinese company. It is pretty much either NetEase or Tencent.
Remember when people said Activision Blizzard would be different under Microsoft? 
Instead, Microsoft doubled the effort to befriend Netease.
By the way:
https://news.microsoft.com/2022/01/18/microsoft-to-acquire-activision-blizzard-to-bring-the-joy-and-community-of-gaming-to-everyone-across-every-device/
Mobile is the largest segment in gaming, with nearly 95% of all players globally enjoying games on mobile. Through great teams and great technology, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will empower players to enjoy the most-immersive franchises, like “Halo” and “Warcraft,” virtually anywhere they want. And with games like “Candy Crush,” Activision Blizzard´s mobile business represents a significant presence and opportunity for Microsoft in this fast-growing segment.
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The CCP is doubling down on the gaming restrictions.
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didn’t that have mostly to do with “gambling” features in games, though?
how tf are people quoting
Online games will be required to set spending limits, while in-game measures that could induce high spending — such as daily login rewards — will be banned, according to the draft rules issued by the National Press and Publication Administration on Friday.
The proposed draft also stipulated that in-game measures that could lead to trading of virtual goods at a high price — such as auctions — will be prohibited, adding that large tips to players who livestream their games will also be banned.
Games should only offer real name registration to players, and game publishers should store data locally, according to the draft rule.
From CNN Business
Mostly I think it’s a reaction to the failure of last year’s crackdown to reduce spending on online games. But partially it’s to prevent transferring money, especially out of the country, through games.
Newer reports are the CCP may be easing up on this. The gaming company stocks are rebounding.
I just highlight the text and hit ctrl+shift+9 but there are other ways to do it.
To quote post contents highlight the text and click the gray quote box.
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- Select the line from a post you want to quote and click on the Quote button that pops up. (As @Zymurgeist suggested).
- This will open the Quote in the Editor where you can continue posting.
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M$ is evil incarnate. There’s no way Blizz games will become less abusive under that evil corp. The only way to win is to stop playing.
Show us on a doll where MS hurt you
Yeah. This is 2023 and soon to be 2024, and if people still can’t come to terms with that corporation’s main goal is making profits, you guys should stop supporting them and move on to other things that you guys like. For example, doing charity for an orphanage or something.
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I didn’t know CCP Games had that much power.
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