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Activision Blizzard & NetEase renew agreement to publish games in China

Activision Blizzard previously had a major fallout with NetEase that saw the publisher's games delisted in China, but that issue seems to be water under the bridge.

TJ Denzer

April 10, 2024 10:12 AM

Image via Business Wire

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A couple years ago, NetEase and Activision Blizzard seemed to have had a massive falling out that ended with the latter’s games being delisted in China. That issue seems to have been resolved because the two have announced a new agreement that will bring Activision Blizzard’s games back to the country. NetEase and Activision Blizzard have renewed their agreements and collaboration and NetEase will once again publish Activision Blizzard games like World of Warcraft in China.

This new agreement was shared via a press release from the companies, as reported by Business Wire. The agreement will see Activision Blizzard titles return to availability in China starting in summer 2024. Affected titles that were previously available include World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch 2, Starcraft 2, and several other games in the Warcraft and Diablo universes. Details on how these games relaunch in China will be coming at a later date. While Microsoft may have been involved, NetEase also entered into a separate agreement with the tech giant to bring NetEase games to Xbox and other Microsoft platforms.

Activision Blizzard and NetEase had a major dispute back in 2022 when Blizzard allowed the licensing agreements on its games in China to expire, forcing services on most of those games to be suspended. Activision Blizzard blamed NetEase entirely for the issue and there were allegations of a lawsuit by NetEase to recoup refunds that had been demanded for the suspension of Activision Blizzard games.

Regardless, it seems those turbulent waters are behind the two companies, likely with a little help from Activision Blizzard’s new owner. As Blizzard’s popular titles return to China, stay tuned for further updates on this story.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.