The good news for gamers in China is that the situation may not be permanent. (Ben Brode and Ben Hearthstone, for the record, are different people.) In a November message on LinkedIn, NetEase president of global investments and partnerships Simon Zhu said "developers and gamers will have a whole new level understanding of how much damage a jerk can make" when the full story comes to light, while Blizzard more recently placed the blame on the shutdown squarely on the shoulders of NetEase: "It is a pity that NetEase is not willing to extend services of our game for another six months on the basis of existing terms as we look for a new partner," it said in a statement last week.
Specific reasons for the breakdown weren't cited, but naturally there were plenty of pointed fingers. But it's literally the end of an era: NetEase has been publishing Blizzard's games in China for 14 years, a partnership that NetEase CEO William Ding said fell apart over " material differences on key terms."
The shutdown isn't a surprise: It was first announced in November 2022, when Blizzard and Chinese publisher NetEase were unable to reach a renewal agreement on their partnership, and then reaffirmed just a week ago.
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