Blizzard Negotiating With New Distribution Partners In China

Although Blizzard Entertainment's distribution agreement with NetEase Inc. was not renewed, the company is reportedly in talks with potential partners.

General manager of the "Warcraft" franchise John Hight posted an open letter to Chinese players on Blizzard's official Weibo account on Tuesday addressing the concerns many players had. Without a Chinese distributor, a majority of Blizzard's titles wouldn't be accessible anymore to players in mainland China, some of who have been playing "World of Warcraft" and other Blizzard titles for over a decade.

China's video game market is strictly regulated by the government and foreign studios such as Blizzard and Microsoft must find a local partner to apply for a distribution license. Otherwise, the National Press and Publication Administration wouldn't allow a foreign-made game to be distributed in China.

"The World of Warcraft team is working hard to develop a function that will allow you to save your game characters, prop, and progress in the world of Azeroth on your personal devices before the game suspends operation on January 23," wrote Hight in the open letter.

He went on to add that "we are currently negotiating with some new potential distribution partners in China, and this process will continue until we find a suitable solution."

NetEase had previously assured both players and the Chinese government that player's game data would be handled according to Chinese "laws and regulations" and that the account data would be sealed. While Blizzard is negotiating for a new distribution partner, applying for a new license per title could take years unless the government allows for a sped-up process.

Chinese players weren't particularly relieved by Hight's letter as their accounts will still be locked and they will have to save their own game data before Jan. 23 when the license is set to expire. Even if Blizzard is successful in finding a new distribution partner within the next few weeks and new licenses are approved in the coming months, that doesn't mean the locked accounts will remain.