Is Overwatch no longer in China?

Blizzard Entertainment titles including Overwatch, Starcraft, Hearthstone and World of Warcraft have officially gone offline in China following a tumultuous end to the developer's distribution partnership with NetEase

NetEase

NetEase develops and operates online PC and mobile games, advertising services, email services, and e-commerce platforms in China. It is one of the largest Internet and video game companies in the world. NetEase has an on-demand music-streaming service (NetEase Music). The company also owns several pig farms.

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › NetEase

NetEase - Wikipedia

, which saw the two gaming giants fail to negotiate an extension to their 14 year-old licensing ...

Why is Overwatch not in China?

After failing to reach a deal with publishing partner NetEase, Blizzard has shuttered most of its games in the country, including World of Warcraft, Overwatch 2, and Diablo. (Diablo Immortal remains unaffected, distributed through a separate publishing deal with NetEase.)

Is Overwatch available in China?

Are Overwatch and WoW banned in China? The short answer is, no. Overwatch 2 and WoW are not banned in China, but their servers are shut down.

Is Overwatch 2 unavailable in China?

After several months of unsuccessful negotiations with publisher NetEase, Blizzard Entertainment has officially shut down all Overwatch 2 servers in China. From now on, the future of discipline in the region remains a big question, while the players themselves are waiting for the clubs to leave the scene.

Did China ban Overwatch?

As it stands, Blizzard's games — including esports titles like Overwatch, Starcraft and Hearthstone — will not be available in China as of January 2023.

Overwatch 2 is getting REMOVED from China?!

Why did Blizzard quit China?

Blizzard Entertainment is suspending most of its gaming services in China after failing to renew a licensing deal with NetEase, a Chinese gaming partner.

Why is Overwatch shutting down Chinese servers?

Overwatch 2 servers in mainland China have been shut down due to a disagreement between Blizzard and Netease. This shutdown does not come as a surprise. As previously reported, Blizzard was unable to reach an agreement with NetEase, the Chinese tech company in charge of publishing the games in mainland China.

How big is Overwatch in China?

Yet even more impressively, a new report from NetEase, Blizzard's longtime partner in China, claimed that more than 5 million copies of Overwatch have sold in mainland China alone. That's big news.

Can you play wow in China?

Millions of players in China have lost access to the iconic “World of Warcraft” franchise and other popular video games, as Blizzard Entertainment's servers in the country went offline after two decades.

Is Overwatch 2 replacing Overwatch?

Blizzard has confirmed Overwatch 2 will replace the original Overwatch on release in October. In a statement to Axios' Stephen Totilo, Blizzard explained that Overwatch 2 “will replace the current Overwatch build,” with all player-unlocked content automatically transferring across games.

Why is WoW ending in China?

Game servers were shutdown after a licensing agreement between Blizzard and China's NetEase expired. Fans took to social media to express their devastation about no longer being able to play.

Will Blizzard come back to China?

Blizzard is still looking for a "new partner" to bring its games back to Chinese players, but for now, they're out of luck.

Which Blizzard games are now officially dead in China?

Millions of Chinese players mourned the departure of their beloved games as American company Blizzard Entertainment ended its 14-year licensing partnership with its Chinese counterpart NetEase. Starting Monday, games such as “Overwatch,” “Hearthstone,” and “World of Warcraft” were unavailable to players in China.

Is console gaming banned in China?

Notably, China imposed a near-complete ban on video game consoles in 2000, fearing the addicting-like impact of games on its youth; the ban was ultimately lifted in 2015.

Why is Overwatch disbanded?

An argument between the two at Overwatch's headquarters in Switzerland ends in an explosion, after which both are presumed dead. After these events, the UN signed the Petras Act, outlawing any further activity by Overwatch. As any other action would be deemed illegal, Overwatch disbanded.

Is Overwatch popular in Japan?

Overwatch is a first-person shooter that adds excitement with unique characters and special abilities. The game is incredibly popular with casual gamers in Japan.

Is China banning online games?

BEIJING/HONG KONG, April 15 (Reuters) - China said on Friday the livestreaming of unauthorised video games was banned, signalling stricter enforcement of rules as part of its broad crackdown on the gaming industry aimed at purging content the government does not approve of.

Is online gaming legal in China?

Gambling is strictly prohibited in the People's Republic of China (“China”, or PRC), from which ‒ solely for the purposes of the article ‒ Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are excluded. In China, activities related to gambling are subject to administrative penalties and even criminal liability in serious cases.

Is gaming allowed in China?

Most notably, in September 2021, China banned under-18s from playing games for more than three hours a week, a rule that has forced Tencent and its peers to give up targeting youth gamers. Tencent said in November the total time under-18s spent on its games had plunged 92%.

What is Overwatch called in Chinese?

The one distributed in Mainland China in simplified Chinese is commonly described as 'the Mainland server' (guofu 国服), with the name of the game Overwatch translated as “Shouwang xianfeng” 守望先锋(lit. The Watching Vanguard).

Does China have the most gamers?

China is a key player in the global games market. This is demonstrated by these insights into market growth and video game industry revenue in China: There are over 685 million gamers in China – almost half the country's population.

Is Overwatch one being deleted?

Overwatch 1 will permanently shut down on October 2, confirms Blizzard.

What Overwatch teams are in China?

This difference is likely because the four Chinese teams (Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Chengdu) cannot legally play Overwatch 2, or most other Blizzard games in the country, following an end to an agreement with NetEase to operate.

Are Overwatch 1 servers still up?

So the game might release a few hours earlier or later than this time. As sad as it is to see a game we all love come to an end, at least we can rest assured knowing that the servers for Overwatch 1 will be shutting down on October 4, 2022.