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Major video game developer Blizzard Entertainment will cease operations in China as it failed to renew its agreement with Chinese provider NetEase.
This means gamers based in the country will need to connect to the top Chinese VPN services to continue playing World of Warcraft, Hearthstone or Starcraft.
The news comes as the subsidiary of US video game giant Activision Blizzard reported that NetEase declined an extension of its 14-year license agreement, which is about to expire, allowing Blizzard games to be distributed across mainland China.
Diablo Immortal will be the only game released under a separate contract. Other titles will no longer be available to users connecting within the country’s borders starting January 23.
Following the update from Blizzard Entertainment, which complained about their inability to negotiate a six-month extension ahead of Blizzard’s games shutdown in China, NetEase has issued a fiery response, tearing down their local Orc statue live on stream.https ://t .co/OQ4Q8xlHus pic.twitter.com/AfOe9rEiGsJanuary 18, 2023
Tensions between Blizzard and NetEase are rising
“Unfortunately, NetEase is not willing to extend the service for another six months based on the terms of the existing partnership while we look for a new partner.” announced the video game provider (opens in new tab) via his Weibo page on Jan. 17.
Both NetEase and Blizzard Entertainment first reported the end of their commercial agreement last November. Blizzard reported trying to negotiate an extension of another six months, the time to find another partner and keep distribution going. NetEase declined.
“We are not giving up and will still do our best for everyone. We want you to understand that it is not over yet. We will still try to find a national partner who shares our beliefs,” Blizzard assures users.
In a quick response (opens in new tab)NetEase lamented that the six-month renewal deal had been proposed just a week earlier, labeling such a move as “unequal” and “unfair”.
“In our opinion, Blizzard’s proposal – including today’s surprise announcement – is brash, inappropriate and commercially illogical,” wrote NetEase, describing such behavior as “riding a mule while looking for a horse, separating but still trying to live together.”
The China-based games distributor also denied speculation about its desire to gain control of Blizzard’s IP addresses, promising it would do its best to serve users until the end.
Some of the games that will suffer include World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft 3: Reforged, Diablo 3, Overwatch 1 and 2, Heroes of the Storm, the Starcraft series, and Hearthstone.
Blizzard Entertainment said it is still looking for a partner, but experts do not expect (opens in new tab) the titles will be out anytime this year due to the strict regulatory process.
In the meantime, Blizzard developers recommend Chinese gamers to backup all their data so that their game progress is saved until the next release.
How a Chinese VPN can help
As mentioned above, gamers playing in mainland China will need to turn to a VPN service to continue playing all of their favorite Blizzard games.
A VPN is software that can spoof users’ IP addresses. That’s because the internet traffic will look like it’s coming from one of the many international servers. Gamers can then trick their ISP into thinking they are in a completely different country in seconds.
A gaming VPN is even beneficial in terms of performance. For example, the ability to switch between different servers can help them avoid ISP throttling and increase ping rates.
In addition, however, the use of such security software is also recommended for daily use. For people living in countries like China, it’s pretty much a necessity.
For example, a spoofed browsing location is essential to access the long list of censored sites. Encrypting all data leaving a device also requires a VPN to escape online surveillance.