Activision Blizzard games return to China thanks to the partnership between Microsoft and NetEase

Confirming the rumors leaked online yesterday, Activision Blizzard announced that starting this summer i The company's games will return to operation in Chinathanks to a new partnership between Microsoft Gaming and NetEase.

For those who don't know, by January 2022 Blizzard had suspended operations of the majority of its games in China, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Warcraft III: Reforged, Overwatch 2, the StarCraft series, Diablo 3 and Heroes of the Storm, as the licensing agreement stipulated with NetEase had ended without the parties reaching an agreement to renew it. The decision caused an outcry at the time, considering that Blizzard games boasted tens of millions of active players in China alone.

Evidently with theMicrosoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard things have changed, with the Redmond company willing to return to the negotiating table with NetEase. The new agreement will allow users in China to return to playing all previously available games starting next summer.

More NetEase games may be coming to Xbox and other platforms

In the same press release, Microsoft announced that it had also signed a second agreement in which the two companies undertake to “explore the possibility of bringing new NetEase games on Xbox consoles and other platforms“.

Previously the two companies had joined forces to publish the console version of Naraka: Bladepoint on Xbox and in the Game Pass catalog, so we assume that we could see further collaborations of this kind in the future.

A possible candidate, for example, could be Project Mugen, the ambitious anime-style open world action RPG with an urban setting presented last year and currently only available for mobile, PC and PlayStation consoles.

“Blizzard and NetEase have done an incredible job to renew our commitment to gamers: Blizzard's universes have been part of the lives of gamers in the region for many years,” said Phil Spencer, the boss of Microsoft's gaming division.

“Bringing Blizzard's legendary games back to players in China while exploring ways to bring other new titles to Xbox demonstrates our commitment to bringing more games to more players around the world,” said Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming .