"Blizzard is set to discontinue game services in China from January 2023 after failing to renew a 14-year contract with Chinese gaming giant NetEase. The deal, first signed in August 2008, allowed Blizzard to offer World of Warcraft in the country, where it has since become wildly popular. "
Is there any truth to this?
Yeah
But also, hope remains
I couldn’t imagine what it is like for those players right now. We speculate about the servers shutting down, but that is almost worse. All your stuff is gone, but the game isn’t, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Blizz gave Chinese players a way to savestate their accounts for when/if they resume service.
Yes. Both companies have made multiple statements on it. The short version is Netease and Blizzard couldn’t come to an agreement which both sides found agreeable and they’ve elected to part ways, which means Blizzard doesn’t have a company out there they can work with to distribute warcraft. They’re looking into finding another company which can perform the role now on terms Blizzard’s willing to work with.
Don’t be a cringelord neckbeard dude, the deal is between Blizzard and Netease.
does this mean they’re forever out of the Raid World Firsts ? /sadpanda
Was Dragonflight ever released in China? I dont think the story would go over well there, Blizzard would have to remove half the quests and text and human skin color variations.
Oh no, where will we buy gold for cheap? 
Yes, it was released in China on the exact same day that it was released everywhere else.
And no, nothing would need to be changed beyond the blood, gore, showing of bones etc.
Actaully a large amount of quest dialogue was also changed but this isn’t just a “china” thing was also done with RU.
how is that possible if China doesnt allow the lgbtq stuff and dislikes any prominent black characters?
either you’re just blabbin, or this is big news.
He wrong they changed allot of quest text and that, they also did it in the RU version too.
they change text all the time for other countries. there’s not a single lgbt on the chinese client lol
So if it released in China then what’s the expansion like? Do the Chinese just start the Threads of Fate automatically the first time they enter dragonland? No Main Quest, straight to World Quests?
Weird how supportive of the LGBTQ community blizzard is, but that they’d just delete them in the China version to make a few bucks.
Most of the time they just edit the text or remove any mention of lgbt stuff.
Also Blizz has no control over what China does with their version of the game
Not really a problem only involves money, they just want to keep their head… and get some money.
You beat me to it. Its out of control catering and pandering on the NA forums and game.
i dont understand, does blizzard give the design rights to china? in exchange for what? does blizzard get to overrule them, like say they wanted to put some really naughty stuff in the china version of the game, can’t blizzard say no?
kinda interesting, wonder how diablo 4 china will be different than NA.
They dont give design rights over to the chinese publisher, but in order for you to put a game out in china you have to either partner with a chinese company that will ensure your game meets the necessary standards or go through what seems to be a pretty lengthy process.
From my understanding, Blizzard can veto some things that go into their game but its not blizzard publishing or distributing the game; hence why the chinese cash shop got some of the mounts it did while NA/EU didn’t. NetEase handled that.
China does allow LGBT stuff. When the Overwatch comic that showed Tracer being in a relationship with Emily was released, it was unchanged in China. Homosexuality hasn’t been against the law in China since 1997.
You’re thinking of Russia, where the comic was changed because LGBT media is still very much illegal there.
As for characters with dark skin, they are still featured in Chinese media. Black Panther released in China without issue, as did Star Wars Episode 7, 8 and 9. Where the controversy was happened to be in the posters used, not the media itself.