Microsoft’s Blizzard resumes NetEase partnership, bringing World of Warcraft back to Chinese players after bitter break-up

The latest announcement comes five months after US tech giant Microsoft finalised its US$68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment.

Separately, the new deal also deepens cooperation between Microsoft and NetEase, aiming to bring new NetEase titles to Xbox consoles and other platforms, according to the statement.

“Returning Blizzard’s legendary games to players in China while exploring ways to bring more new titles to Xbox demonstrates our commitment to bringing more games to more players around the world,” said Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

The news sparked excitement from Chinese players on social media. The return of Blizzard was the top trending topic on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo immediately after the announcement, achieving over 100 million views within two hours.

“I’ve been wandering in foreign servers for over a year, and finally I can come back home,” one Weibo user commented.

However, there is still work to be done before the games become available for Chinese players. NetEase is looking to hire positions including game operations planners, engineers and project managers for World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and Overwatch under its gaming studio Leihuo, according to new job posts on Wednesday.