() — Millions of Chinese gamers were left without access to the iconic ‘World of Warcraft’ franchise and other popular video games after Blizzard Entertainment’s servers in the country went offline after two decades.
The company’s services in China were suspended at midnight on Tuesday (local time), marking the end of an era for fans, after a license agreement with its former local partner NetEase expired.
‘world of warcraft‘, also known as ‘WoW’, is a popular online multiplayer game that allows users to fight monsters and go on expeditions in the medieval world of Azeroth.
Many players from all over the world grew up with this great success, also in China. In recent days, Chinese fans have taken to social media to express their disbelief at the loss of their longtime hobby.
“When I woke up, I still didn’t want to accept it,” said a user on Weibo, the Chinese platform similar to Twitter, on Tuesday. “I cried all night in my sleep because the game had gone offline. I dreamed that I was crying in the middle of class.”
Another player described ‘World of Warcraft’ as “my first love”.
“I really can’t get over it,” they wrote.
The suspension follows a bitter dispute between Blizzard, a unit of Activision Blizzard, and NetEase.
Foreign publishers must work with local partners to offer video games in China. However, last November, Blizzard and NetEase announced that they would not renew license agreements that expired this month.
Those agreements covered the publication of several popular Blizzard titles in mainland China, including ‘World of Warcraft,’ ‘Hearthstone,’ and ‘Diablo III,’ since 2008. In separate statements at the time, both sides said they had not been able to reach a new agreement on key terms, without elaborating.
Now, the discussions seem to have become more acrimonious.
In a release last Tuesday, Blizzard said it had contacted NetEase seeking “their help in exploring a six-month extension of the current agreement.”
The US company said it had appealed to NetEase to allow fans to continue playing without interruption, “based on our personal feelings as gamers, and the frustration expressed to us by Chinese gamers.”
“Unfortunately, after resuming talks last week, NetEase did not accept our extension proposal,” Blizzard stated.
NetEase countered with his own statement In the past week.
In unusually brief comments, the Chinese gaming and technology giant accused Blizzard of surprising it with its “sudden statement” and called the US company’s proposal “outrageous, inappropriate and not in line with business logic.”
NetEase also noted that Blizzard had already “started the job of finding new partners” in China, putting the Hangzhou-based company in an “unfair” position.
People visiting a Blizzard Entertainment ‘World of Warcraft’ booth during an exhibition in Shanghai in October 2018. (Credit: dycj/ICHPL Imaginechina/AP)
The public dispute marked an unexpected twist in the 14-year partnership between the two companies.
Under a separate agreement, the companies collaborate to jointly develop and publish Diablo Immortal, another popular multiplayer game that allows users to slay demons in an ancient world. NetEase stated in november that this collaboration would continue.
Blizzard said in December that World of Warcraft fans could back up their game history and ensure all progress was saved while they closed their deal and searched for a new partner.
Closing this week has been emotional, even for NetEase managers.
In a post on LinkedIn On Monday, Simon Zhu, president of Global Investments and Partnerships at NetEase Games, detailed how he grew up with Blizzard games in China, including older titles ‘Warcraft’ and ‘Diablo’.
“Blizzard Games servers are only a few hours away from shutting down in China, and that’s a big deal for Chinese players,” he wrote.
“Today is a very sad time to witness the shutdown of the servers, and we don’t know how things will play out in the future. The biggest casualty would be the players from China who live and breathe on those worlds.”
Activision Blizzard, which previously had another Chinese partner before partnering with NetEase, said it is continuing its search for a new distribution partner.
“Our commitment to gamers in mainland China remains strong, as we continue to work with Tencent to distribute ‘Call of Duty: Mobile,’ as well as continue active discussions with potential partners to resume play of Blizzard’s iconic franchises,” an Activision Blizzard spokesperson told .
