Blizzard and NetEase fallout - how big is the impact?

[Nyel]

Title.

Blizzard and NetEase right now are blaming each other for the end of their partnership and in the last days one company is accusing the other of wrongdoings. From this point on it just seems to get worse and worse and there are millions of players in China that are just cut off from Blizzard games in general.

How do you think all of this will continue and how big of an impact will this be for Blizzard in general and for WoW's future?

[Mysterymask]

For blizzards bottom line it's gonna sting

For forum goers they will still blame China 30% of the time
For Chinese players the government already did a good job of blocking blizzard games already

I imagine a lot of them are going to migrate.to either EU servers or US servers using a VPN so it won't matter

[kranur]

If there's good money to be made by Blizzard in China they will just find another partner. Otherwise .. sucks to be a fan of blizz games and live in China.
As far as impact for rest of the world .. basically 0. Maybe a couple of posts on forums and that's that.

[loras]

Title.

Blizzard and NetEase right now are blaming each other for the end of their partnership and in the last days one company is accusing the other of wrongdoings. From this point on it just seems to get worse and worse and there are millions of players in China that are just cut off from Blizzard games in general.

How do you think all of this will continue and how big of an impact will this be for Blizzard in general and for WoW's future?

Well, if China has any balls they can just void IP right protections for those that make no genuine effort to offer their services on the Chinese market.
Most countries have regulations like that, but few enough can (or at least do) shrug off American influence when push comes to shove.
China most definitely can however.

More important is whether they want Blizzard games (and games in general) to be available though.
They've been cracking down for a while now, though to my surprise no coherent strategy or idea has been presented yet in that regard.

They clearly disfavor it but also do not understand it entirely, leaving them indecisive. I think they should have a public discussion on the nature, virtues and costs of the various forms of leisure time activities one can engage in, and on the broader view of activities in general.

[Nymrohd]

Seems like they both fucked their customers over though NetEase's conduct is hilariously unprofessional at this point. Sad for the players. I wonder if they really lose access to the market, will we stop getting Lunar Year mounts? I was looking forward to the Years of Dragon (next year), Snake (2025) and I guess Rooster if we made it there (2029, would love a giant chicken mount).

Also Tencent is releasing a WoW clone. Maybe the CCP just wants the space for their own game.

[Lochton]

The stage is in my book also about if Microsoft's purchase is going to go through. If Microsoft gets to save Activision-Blizzard-King from the Tick, then they'll have a contract with Tencent. NetEase is a walking joke at this point, they want more but don't wish to give more.

All strings should be cut from them and all assets claimed, among them, Diablo Immortal, lock that away on a server blade, and hide it in the deepest, darkest section of their archive.

[Sableye]

china is on a big anti-vdieo game crusade rifht now regardless so this is probably going to happen more and more, their president is a pul-pot "why aren't the children in the fields" type and that has translated down the ranks into being against anything seen as a waste of time, even though just a few years ago they were all for improving their domestic video game industry through western partnerships

[Ethas]

Looks like Blizzard Empire is falling apart. They will feel the aftermath of not getting big money from China. Will probably lay off a lot of american workforce. Can’t say they don’t deserve it tho. Instead of focusing on what made their games the best now they are nothing more than yet another simple propaganda machine. Sadly, Blizzard is going to collapse in the next 5-10 years.

[Mysterymask]

Looks like Blizzard Empire is falling apart. They will feel the aftermath of not getting big money from China. Will probably lay off a lot of american workforce. Can’t say they don’t deserve it tho. Instead of focusing on what made their games the best now they are nothing more than yet another simple propaganda machine. Sadly, Blizzard is going to collapse in the next 5-10 years.

MAN 8 posts and we already got the Blizzard's gonna die doomsayers SALAVATING over their possible validation.

[rogoth]

If there's good money to be made by Blizzard in China they will just find another partner. Otherwise .. sucks to be a fan of blizz games and live in China.
As far as impact for rest of the world .. basically 0. Maybe a couple of posts on forums and that's that.

so if this happened 5 years ago then this would have been an easy clerical issue to resolve, however in modern day this is almost an impossibility thanks to the CCP crackdown on child gaming and also restricting heavily game development companies from being able to operate in China, meaning that this 'issue' is going to take a while to resolve for blizzard and might actually never be resolved until such a time as the CCP changes their policies.

[Nyel]

MAN 8 posts and we already got the Blizzard's gonna die doomsayers SALAVATING over their possible validation.

I mean China is a gigantic market and losing this customer base must be a huge financial blow to Blizzard. We´re talking about millions, maybe tens of millions of players and it doesn't seem like they're going to recoup that loss within a blink.

And as far as news reporting goes, it doesn't seem like NetEase was the bigger problem here, it seems to have been Blizzard itself. Their quarterly results next month will be very interesting, although we won't see any financial impact by then. It will come in the next one where we see how big the damage really is.

[Stickiler]

I mean China is a gigantic market and losing this customer base must be a huge financial blow to Blizzard. We´re talking about millions, maybe tens of millions of players and it doesn't seem like they're going to recoup that loss within a blink.

And as far as news reporting goes, it doesn't seem like NetEase was the bigger problem here, it seems to have been Blizzard itself. Their quarterly results next month will be very interesting, although we won't see any financial impact by then. It will come in the next one where we see how big the damage really is.

I'm pretty sure, from when this was last mentioned, that China is only about 10% of Blizzards total revenue. Nothing to sniff at, but definitely not a "huge financial blow". Plus that 10% includes Diablo Immortal, which is under a separate agreement and not affected by this separation.

[Stricks]

If there's good money to be made by Blizzard in China they will just find another partner. Otherwise .. sucks to be a fan of blizz games and live in China.
As far as impact for rest of the world .. basically 0. Maybe a couple of posts on forums and that's that.

I don't know enough about Blizzard's financials, but if it's any significant portion of their revenue it could absolutely have an effect on the company and therefore all of it's consumers. I would imagine that NetEase is mostly considered "outsourced" but at a minimum there is certainly part of the overhead for that portion of their business that will not be accounted for. And even then the additional revenue they will lose could eat in to how much they choose to spend on other things that could affect their entire customer base, not just those in China. I'm not predicting their downfall or anything but I think you'll see some big moves if their entire customer base in China goes away.

That is not what I see happening though, as I agree with you that they can just find another "NetEase" to take their place. It doesn't appear to me that they are a really special/unique partner that can't be replaced.

Without knowing the inner workings of Blizzard I don't really think we can know, however.

[rrayy]

Looks like Blizzard Empire is falling apart. They will feel the aftermath of not getting big money from China. Will probably lay off a lot of american workforce. Can’t say they don’t deserve it tho. Instead of focusing on what made their games the best now they are nothing more than yet another simple propaganda machine. Sadly, Blizzard is going to collapse in the next 5-10 years.

Nowwhere close to true This is Blizzard's chance to take a real stand and say "We aren't coming back as long as you continue to oppress yoru people.

Absolutely hilarious that people are deriding Blizzard for not doing business with a country full of human rights abuses.

[Schizoide]

I have supreme confidence the NetEase breakup wasn't due to any principled action by Bobby Kotick.

Assuming the Chinese government isn't responsible behind the scenes, I expect Blizzard to find another Chinese partner extremely quickly. There's lots of money to be made.

[Segus1992]

I have supreme confidence the NetEase breakup wasn't due to any principled action by Bobby Kotick.

Assuming the Chinese government isn't responsible behind the scenes, I expect Blizzard to find another Chinese partner extremely quickly. There's lots of money to be made.

Except they did initially say they wouldn't keep going with NetEase only to then ask for an extra 6 months. Doesn't seem like it is that easy. The CCP has done a lot to crack down on gaming, especially for kids.

[Schizoide]

That could mean their chosen Chinese partner pulled out or wouldn't work for whatever reason, but sure, it could be the CCP. If it is, that's the end of Blizzard games in China for the foreseeable future.

[Dystemper]

The bigger concern is MS laying off 10k people, cost cutting measures etc that might mean they will pull out if the deal to buy Atvi . The lawsuit over the sale now this could mean a no go for it. If that happens I expect Blizzard stock to take a big hit.

[huth]

Well, if China has any balls they can just void IP right protections for those that make no genuine effort to offer their services on the Chinese market.

...you do remember you're talking about China, right? They're not exactly known for enforcing those for non-Chinese IPs in the first place.

[tomten]

For blizzards bottom line it's gonna sting

There's lots of money to be made.

Looks like Blizzard Empire is falling apart. They will feel the aftermath of not getting big money from China.

I mean China is a gigantic market and losing this customer base must be a huge financial blow to Blizzard..

The numbers are already out, its such a ridiculous tiny portion they wont even notice it being gone. We're talking single digits % profits.