Chinese players of “World of Warcraft” expressed their sadness this Monday a few hours after the deactivation of the famous video game in China, after a dispute between the American developer Blizzard and its local partner NetEase. Other popular titles from the Californian group, world heavyweight in the sector, will suffer the same fate, such as “Overwatch”, “Diablo III” or even “Hearthstone”.
“It’s the end,” wrote a user of the Weibo social network, a “World of Warcraft” player, who accompanied his message with a crying emoji. “It wasn’t just a game. They were also the memories of the youth of an entire generation” of Chinese, underlines another. Very popular around the world, especially in the 2000s, “World of Warcraft” (often abbreviated as “WoW”) is a multiplayer online role-playing game that takes place in a medieval fantasy universe.
Blizzard has offered its games in China since 2008 through a collaboration with Chinese Internet giant NetEase, and foreign developers were forced to partner with a local partner to enter the market. But the two companies had announced in November, after 14 years of marriage, that negotiations to renew operating contracts had been unsuccessful. Consequence: The Chinese servers of “World of Warcraft”, like those of the other titles, will go offline on Tuesday at 00:00 Chinese time (16:00 GMT on Monday).
A declined extension
“The two companies have taken the players hostage,” said Wu, a 32-year-old doctoral student who has been a “World of Warcraft” fan for ten years, told AFP. But the one who played up to three hours a day also sees the bright side of things. “I didn’t give my wife enough time. Now that ‘World of Warcraft’ is gone, I want to make amends.”
Last week, Blizzard China said it had requested a one-off six-month contract extension, which NetEase rejected, accusing the US company of playing on multiple fronts. In order to continue offering its titles in China, the Californian group had indicated to “discuss” in parallel with “several potential partners who share our values”, implying that this was not the case with NetEase.
This deactivation of the Chinese servers is not the “epilogue” but simply “an unfortunate temporary suspension,” the Chinese group said in a press release published on Monday. User data may be saved in the event of a return to China of Blizzard games, according to the US company.
Source: BFM TV
