A dramatic break-up between Microsoft and China’s gaming giant NetEase last year ended a nearly 15-year long partnership. It affected not just investors but millions of China’s gamers. A reconciliation will be good news for all concerned.
NetEase and US games rival Microsoft, which bought Activision Blizzard last year, said on Wednesday they will bring Blizzard’s popular titles such as the online role-playing game World of Warcraft back to China from this summer. A disagreement last year over intellectual property control resulted in them suing each other, Microsoft ending their partnership and the game being taken offline.
NetEase has much to gain from the reconciliation. Blizzard titles are wildly popular in mainland China. Other blockbuster hits include Hearthstone and Diablo III. World of Warcraft alone has over 3mn players in China. Analysts estimate that NetEase, as the publisher of Blizzard games in China, made as much as 5 per cent of its total sales from Blizzard games before the partnership was terminated.