Blizzard has announced that it's signed a new agreement with publishing giant NetEase in order to bring its games back to mainland China.
In a press release, Blizzard says that its games will return to China "sequentially, beginning this summer" under a renewed deal signed between the developer, NetEase, and Microsoft.
Blizzard games have technically been unavailable in mainland China since January last year, when the studio failed to reach a new publishing agreement with NetEase. Now, though, it seems that agreement has been renewed.
Games making their way back to China this year include the phenomenally popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, which is also getting a brand new expansion later in 2024.
Chinese gamers can also look forward to the return of card battler Hearthstone, as well as other Blizzard games from franchises like Diablo and StarCraft.
Blizzard and NetEase say they're currently "working diligently on relaunch plans", and we'll get more information about what those plans might be "at a later date".
Johanna Faries, president of Blizzard Entertainment, says the studio is "thrilled" to reestablish its partnership with NetEase, and that her studio is "immensely grateful" to its Chinese fanbase for the passion it's shown over the years.
NetEase CEO William Ding says this agreement with Blizzard represents "the next chapter" of the two companies' work together, and that it's built on "trust and mutual respect". Xbox chief Phil Spencer, meanwhile, says the two studios have "done incredible work" by signing the deal.
Intriguingly, the press release also says that Microsoft has signed a separate agreement with NetEase to bring the latter's games to consoles and PCs. We'll have to wait and see what that could mean.
Blizzard's press release says the agreement will encompass games to which Chinese gamers already had access, so it's not clear whether more of the studio's games beyond these will make their way to China as well. Stay tuned for more.
