World Of Warcraft servers shutdown in China leaving millions of players disappointed

Blizzard Entertainment, the developer and publisher of the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, has announced that it will be shutting down its servers in China. The decision was made in conjunction with the game's Chinese operator, NetEase.

The reason for the shutdown is due to an ongoing dispute between the two companies over licensing and revenue sharing. Despite efforts to resolve the issue, the companies were unable to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.

In a statement, Blizzard said, "We have been working closely with our partners at NetEase to try to resolve this issue, but unfortunately, those efforts have not been successful. We deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause our players in China, and we hope to have the opportunity to serve them again in the future."

NetEase responded with its own statement accusing Blizzard of blindsiding it with its “sudden statement” and called the US company’s proposal “outrageous, inappropriate, and not in line with business logic”. NetEase also pointed out that Blizzard had already “started the work of finding new partners” in China, putting the Hangzhou-based company in an “unfair” position.

Simon Zhu, president of global investments and partnerships of NetEase Games said the following in an emotional LinkedIn post: 

“Today is such a sad moment to witness the server shutdown, and we don’t know how things will play out in the future. The biggest victim would be players in China who live and breathe in those worlds.”

The shutdown of the servers is a blow to China's gaming community, and will have a significant impact on the Chinese player base, as World of Warcraft is one of the most popular games in the country. It's unclear if the game will return to China in the future, but an Activision Blizzard spokesperson told CNN that they are in active talks with a potential partner to resume gameplay for Blizzard’s iconic franchises.