NEWS
by Dan Lenois
Activision-Blizzard Shutting Down Servers in China
In a recent press release distributed to investors, Activision-Blizzard revealed a drastic policy shift regarding online servers and related services offered to players in China. Activision-Blizzard specifically notes:
"...that it will be suspending most Blizzard game services in mainland China due to the expiration of the current licensing agreements with NetEase, Inc. on January 23, 2023. This includes World of Warcraft®, Hearthstone®, Warcraft® III: Reforged, Overwatch®, the StarCraft® series, Diablo III®, and Heroes of the Storm®."
Activision goes on to disclose:
"We will suspend new sales in the coming days and Chinese players will be receiving details of how this will work soon. Upcoming releases for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Hearthstone: March of the Lich King, and season 2 of Overwatch 2 will proceed later this year."
Activision then closes the statement with a standard corporate platitude:
“We’re immensely grateful for the passion our Chinese community has shown throughout the nearly 20 years we’ve been bringing our games to China through NetEase and other partners,” said Mike Ybarra, president, Blizzard Entertainment. “Their enthusiasm and creativity inspire us, and we are looking for alternatives to bring our games back to players in the future.”
Yet Another Step Down on a Corporate Descent...
Activision-Blizzard's recent history seems over-ripe with examples of corporate failure and incompetence, often at the expense of players. While the failure to close a business deal obviously implies fault on the part of both parties involved, the decision to abandon all responsibility to their Chinese playerbase, rather than temporarily shoulder the burden themselves, or have a third-party ready in place to take over in the interim, comes across as a monumental oversight. Activision-Blizzard would have likely been in negotiations with NetEase for months, prior to this announcement, so the idea that Activision-Blizzard never had a contingency plan set in place for this very outcome attests more to the notion that Activision-Blizzard didn't bother to try, rather than the winds of change merely catching them by surprise.
Activision-Blizzard, in the same statement, did observe that there is a silver lining to be found, as:
"Diablo Immortal® co-development and publishing is covered under a separate agreement between the two companies."
So the currently most-hated Activision-Blizzard game, throughout its entire corporate history, will remain fully supported in China, while its other commercially successful and critically acclaimed titles fade away into obscurity in said demographic. Who says there can't be a happy ending?