Oh, WoW: Chinese gamers to be cut off from Blizzard games next week Gaming giant Blizzard is about to stop operating some of its games in China, leaving players of multiplayer affairs like World of Warcraft fearing for the future of characters in which they have invested many hours of their lives, often in the company of friends they don't "see" in other "places". This story starts in late …
"NetEase's post also pointed out that it was not comfortable negotiating with Blizzard while the US-based gaming giant talked to other prospective partners."
Could that be because
"The Chinese concern flagged [PDF] the end of its partnership with Blizzard in November 2022, when it told shareholders the games it licensed delivered 'low single digits as a percentage of NetEase's total net revenues and net income in 2021 and in the first nine months of 2022.' "
If I tell a business partner and the world in general I might not renew a contract I should not complain when they start looking for alternatives. They are pretty much obliged to, being accountable to their shareholders (if they are publicly traded). By all means, try and secure a better deal when renewing a contract - or switching distributors or suppliers, that's all part of the game.
It's called business.
You say you don't want to work with me any more ? Excuse me while I search for people who do.
And the childish sexual insults simply demonstrate that NetEase's management need to grow up. Petulant children should not be in charge of major communications companies.
Eh, Musk ?
Blizzard wouldn't leave the contract renewal negotiations for the last minute, so they will likely have been negotiating for at least 6 months. The statement from NetEase in November would seem to indicate that talks were going nowhere by then.
I would imagine that it's all about money. NetEase have probably been getting bent over a barrel by Blizzard and want more money. Blizzard probably want to pay them less.
Given that there's been no announcement yet about who is going to replace NetEase, it sounds like Blizzard has had even less luck at finding a replacement who are willing to accept the terms that are on offer. If it was NetEase who were the problem, then Blizzard would have found someone else by now.
"accused Blizzard of negotiating in bad faith, unilaterally implementing the save progress feature in ways that mean NetEase cannot guarantee its security or functionality, and acting against gamers' interests."
IE implemented in a way that doesn't allow NetEase to hold player data for ransom to "negotiate" a new contract? Seems like some execs still need to learn how these sorts of negotiations work and that companies don't just take whatever shit deal you try to offer them just to continue an existing relationship.
Now I'll admit that I've been clean of WoW for over a decade now so my knowledge is pretty dated, but back in the height of my addictiontime playing, Chinese gold farmers were a blight on the game, making some resource gathering next to impossible. So if that is still the case, maybe this will be a nuclear option...?
They changed it a while back so farmers and over-population didn't get in your way anymore. I think it was some layer system. Though this does raise an interesting question as the farmers aren't farming on wow in China but wow EU or Americas so it won't cause them any issues.
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