Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizen lbzhh for the clue delivery! CTOnews.com, January 14 (Xinhua)-- Blizzard games, including World of Warcraft, hearthstone Legend, Diablo 3 and Watchman: return, will be discontinued in China after January 24, 2023, due to the expiration of a license agreement with NetEase.

NetEase has begun to dissolve the Shanghai Blizzard game operation department after NetEase officially terminated his contract with Blizzard, according to the South China Morning Post. It also dispelled speculation that Blizzard and NetEase might strike a deal at the last minute.

NetEase is disbanding the local team responsible for running Blizzard games, and NetEase has arranged for most of his employees to leave or be transferred internally, according to three people familiar with the matter.

It is said that NetEase used to be a small department with less than 100 employees, most of whom were operators, and most of them chose to leave after NetEase and Blizzard made it clear that their contracts would not be renewed. only a small number of technicians were transferred to other teams in Shanghai.

Sources said that about 10 members stayed behind to deal with all kinds of aftermath, but it is unlikely to take more than half a year. It is worth mentioning that Diablo: immortality is operated by NetEase Hangzhou headquarters team according to a separate agreement and will not be affected for the time being.

In addition, Blizzard is currently in talks with a number of potential Chinese partners, and one of the sources said that although several Chinese companies have sent representatives to the United States for negotiations, but it seems impossible for them to reach an agreement with Blizzard before January 23.

CTOnews.com has reported that Activision Blizzard and NetEase issued statements announcing the end of the partnership on November 17, followed by NetEase's announcement on the World of Warcraft website that Blizzard games, including "World of Warcraft", "hearthstone Legend", "Watch Pioneer", "Diablo III", "StarCraft II", "Warcraft III: remake" and "Storm Hero" will be terminated at 0: 00 on January 24, 2023.

Blizzard said that after the server is shut down, all account data will be temporarily sealed and will be properly handled in accordance with the requirements of laws and regulations to protect the legitimate rights and interests of users.

Last month, Blizzard Chinese officials released a video saying that this was a message recorded by Nathan Lyons-Smith, the executive producer of Blizzard's hearthstone Legend, to players in the national service of Blizzard. "the producer said that he was in talks with potential new distributors of national service, looking forward to the day of the reunion.

Expanded reading: "World of Warcraft national service is about to shut down, players need to save game data locally."

It is reported that Blizzard national service agency negotiations have entered the stage of "choosing one of the two": mobile game copyright development is the core.

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