World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch 2 suspended in China
BLIZZARD will suspend services of its ongoing live service games in China after a dispute with the distributor.
A number of popular games and series will halt in China, including World of Warcraft, Diablo Immortal, and Overwatch 2.
China is one of the world’s leading gaming markets due to its high population.
Despite this, in a statement released by Blizzard today (November 17), services will be suspended in China at the end of January 2023.
The statement reads: “The two parties have not reached a deal to renew the agreements that is consistent with Blizzard’s operating principles and commitments to players and employees.
“The agreements are set to expire in January 2023.”
More in Blizzard Games
New sales of Blizzard games will be suspended in the region in the coming day, though the details have not been finalised.
However, planned releases such as World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Hearthstone: Wrath of the Lich King, and Overwatch 2 Season 2 will go ahead before the end of the year.
President of Blizzard Mike Ybarra thanked the company’s Chinese customers, who have enjoyed its games to date.
He also stated that he hopes to reach an agreement with another company to continue services in China in the future.
Most read in Gaming
He says: “We are immensely grateful for the passion the Chinese community has shown throughout the nearly 20 years we’ve been bringing out games to China through NetEase and other partners.
“Their enthusiasm and creativity inspire us.
“We are looking for alternatives to bring our games back to players in the future.”
Despite Blizzard’s search for alternative distributors, it is likely that there will be at least a short period where the games are unavailable in China.
China is known for some of the strictest online laws in the world, and also for restricting content in the region.
Read More on The Sun
Many services including Google products have been suspended there, and films and games have to be heavily edited to meet government standards.
In 2021, president Xi Jinping banned all games that depicted homosexual or nazi characters.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
All the latest Gaming tips and tricks
Looking for tips and tricks across your favourite consoles and games? We have you covered...
- All the video game releases in 2022
- Can you play PS4 games on PS5?
- All of the Call of Duty games in order
- Every Assassin’s Creed game in order
- All the GTA 5 mods and cheats
- What are the Pokemon Go Eevee Evolutions?
- Everything you need to know about Roblox
- Who created Fortnite?
- Most popular Roblox games
- How to get free Robux
- How many people play Fortnite?
- Best PS4 games with free PS5 upgrades
- Who is the highest-paid Twitch streamer?
Get all of the latest PS5, Xbox and other video game news here