Today, Blizzard announced that the current licensing agreement with NetEase will expire on January 23, 2023, and will suspend most of its game services in mainland China, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch, and StarCraft.

Subsequently, NetEase published on the official website of World of Warcraft the "Important Announcement of NetEase on the Expiration of the Operation of Blizzard's Game Products" stating,Games like World of Warcraft and Hearthstone will end at 0:00 on January 24, 2023.

Blizzard and NetEase have cooperated for many years, but why did they suddenly break up? According to media reports, people familiar with the matter said that Blizzard proposed to renew the contract. Sky-high prices. Conditions, the person said,Blizzard's share of the 2019-2022 contract period is more than 50% of the revenue and net profit, and Blizzard games will adopt a global pricing strategy,Previously, Chinese game prices were about 20% cheaper than those in other regions.

Blizzard also asked NetEase to follow the Diablo: Immortal model,Develop Blizzard's other IP mobile games and distribute them globally, but NetEase only enjoys the share of market revenue in China.NetEase also needs to pay a large deposit.

People familiar with the matter said that if NetEase agreed to the contract extension, then NetEase is tantamount to working for Blizzard.