World of Warcraft Officially Left China
Chinese gamers finally had to bid farewell to some of their favorite titles. All servers of the famous World of Warcraft were shut down. Other popular Blizzard titles, except Diablo Immortal, were no longer available in the country. The reason for this was a breakdown in negotiations between Blizzard and its Chinese partner, NetEase. The incident resulted in a heated dispute and even vandalism at Blizzard’s office in China.
After 14 years of cooperation, the relationship between the two giants in the gaming industry has come to an end. All regional servers for the US company’s games have been disabled. Local players have said goodbye to titles such as WoW, Hearthstone, Diablo III, Overwatch, and more. They shared their last moments in the game by taking memorable screenshots and reminiscing about the good old days.
On Weibo, many have expressed their grief:
The disruption in gaming won’t last forever. But gamers will still need to wait a year or more before they can return to Azeroth. To support its fan base, Blizzard announced an innovative move to address the situation. Chinese players could download and save their characters’ data in WoW onto their personal devices. This unique feature allows players to retain access to their saved content once the game becomes available in China again through a new distribution partner.
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