Millions of Chinese players of the epic World of Warcraft (WoW) role-playing game will say a sad farewell to the land of Azeroth, with the game taken offline after a dispute between US developer Blizzard and its local partner NetEase.
Widely popular around the world, particularly in the 2000s, WoW is a multiplayer online role-playing game set in a fantasy medieval world. It is known for being immersive and addictive, and players can rack up hundreds of hours of gameplay time.
Blizzard games have been available in China since 2008 thanks to the collaboration with NetEase. Under local law, foreign developers must partner with Chinese companies to enter the market.
But after 14 years and millions of players in China, the two companies announced in November that talks about renewing their operating contract had failed to reach an agreement. As a result, the Chinese WoW servers will go offline at midnight local time on Tuesday.
Other popular titles from the Californian developer, one of the biggest in the world, will suffer the same fate, including Overwatch, Diablo III and Hearthstone.
“It’s the end,” wrote one Weibo user, accompanied by crying emojis.
“It wasn’t just a game. They were also the memories of a whole generation” of Chinese youth, wrote another.
“The two companies have taken the players hostage,” said Wu, a 30-year-old doctoral student and longtime fan.
Last week, Blizzard China said it had requested a one-off six-month contract extension, which NetEase rejected.
“One day, when what happened behind the scenes can be told, developers and players alike will have a whole new level of understanding of how much damage a jerk can do,” NetEase president Simon Zhu wrote on LinkedIn late last month. last year.
Blizzard had said it was in talks with “several potential partners who share our values” to continue offering its titles in China.
The deactivation of its Chinese servers was not “the end” but simply an “unhappy temporary suspension,” Blizzard China said. User data may be saved to use when the games return to China, according to Blizzard.
But Wu, who said he played WoW for up to three hours a day, saw the bright side of the story. “I didn’t give my wife enough time. Now that World of Warcraft is gone, I want to make amends,” she said.
