What happened to World of Warcraft?

NetEase took over licensing of World of Warcraft from The9 in June 2009 following the expiration of The9's contract, and were able to secure a launch for Wrath of the Lich King on August 31, 2010, nearly two years after its Western release. Due to a contract dispute, these servers were shut down on January 23, 2023.

Is World of Warcraft still a thing?

Endgame content aside, every version of World of Warcraft has its merits and the game as a whole still holds up in 2023, although the long-running MMORPG is definitely not as impressive as it used to be. Visually, even the latest expansion barely holds up to recent MMOs, let alone big-budget single-player games.

Why is WoW shutdown?

American gaming company Activision Blizzard, the title owner of World of Warcraft, suspended services and shut down its servers in China, because of a licensing disagreement with their partner, the Chinese gaming giant NetEase.

Why did China ban World of Warcraft?

Millions of Chinese gamers have lost access to World of Warcraft after a furious dispute between U.S. title owner Activision Blizzard and NetEase, its longtime local partner in the world's biggest gaming market.

Is there going to be a new World of Warcraft?

Blizzard announced a new Warcraft game last year, and players will hopefully learn more about it before 2023 ends. Warcraft: Arclight Rumble will be bringing the series back to the strategy genre, but this time it will be on mobile.

Why Did It ALL Go Wrong For Warcraft Here?

Is Warcraft 2 confirmed?

Warcraft 2 Movie Will Probably Be A Reboot

Rumors in early 2022 indicated that Blizzard and Universal want to include a soft reboot of the story.

Do new people still play WoW?

This is the latest data on how many people play World of Warcraft. According to the latest estimates, WoW has around 8.5 million players in 2023 (including Chinese players). This is a huge number, and it's evidence that the game is still massively popular, even after all these years.

Is WoW banned in Japan?

There's no IP bans/blocks. Been there, done that. WoW wasn't released in Japan because foreign companies need assistance from local publishers to release their products in Japanese market.

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

How many WoW players are there in China?

It impacts not just Warcraft, which has an estimated three million players in China, but Blizzard's other hits like multiplayer shooter Overwatch, card game Hearthstone, and sci-fi strategy title Starcraft.

How many players did WoW lose?

In a graphical version of Blizzard's Monthly Active Users (MAU) stats from the 2021 Q4 call, it appears that Blizzard lost 5 million users during 2021 despite the release of WoW Shadowlands in October, 2020, and Diablo 2 Resurrected and WoW Burning Crusade Classic in 2021.

Is World of Warcraft 2 cancelled?

We've got terrible news for WoW players: Blizzard have just cancelled the sequel / spin-off they were developing under the name Project Neptune.

Is WoW not free anymore?

How do I renew my WoW subscription? World of Warcraft is always FREE to play up to level 20, but in order to play high level characters you'll need a subscription.

Should I go back to WoW?

Is it worth playing World of Warcraft in 2022? Best answer: Long story short, yes! World of Warcraft: Dragonflight puts the game in a better state than it has been in years.

What game has the most active players?

1 Minecraft

It has an average of 140 million monthly players.

Why is WoW so successful?

Massive Success: Blizzard's WoW title saw such massive success because Blizzard understood the power of direct network effects with video games. Blizzard was adept at making key decisions about WoW that helped it drive user growth very rapidly.

Will Blizzard World come back?

While Blizzard World will be making a comeback alongside Rialto, Blizzard will be introducing a brand new map known as Shambali Monastery. According to the game's lore, this map is basically the location where Ramattra and Zenyatta lived for some time.

Why is Blizzard in trouble?

Topline. Activision Blizzard agreed to pay $35 million to resolve claims it lacked an adequate process to assess workplace misconduct complaints, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday, following allegations of sexual assault and mistreatment of women at the company in recent years.

Is Microsoft taking over Blizzard?

Announcement. On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in an all-cash deal, or approximately $95 per share. Activision Blizzard's stock price jumped nearly 40% that day in pre-market trading.

Has anyone been banned for buying WoW gold?

But they do ban gold buyers all the time. If you're actually a part of the games communities its discussed on discord on a weekly basis. There is far less than a 1% chance you will be suspended or banned for buying gold. And even if you are it'll be a few days suspension then you can just go buy gold again.

Why is WoW banned in Iran?

Blizzard has restricted access to World of Warcraft in Iran due to trade sanctions introduced by the US government. Hundreds of Iranian gamers turned to the Battle.net forums last week complaining of being unable to access the game.

Is World of Warcraft free to play 2023?

You can return to WoW without a subscription until March 12, 2023. After that date, you can only enjoy a free trial experience limited to Level 20.

When did World of Warcraft peak?

World of Warcraft was a major critical and commercial success upon its original release in 2004 and quickly became the most popular MMORPG of all time, reaching a peak of 12 million subscribers in 2010.

Who owns World of Warcraft?

Blizzard Entertainment is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software, and the company is renowned for creating some of the industry's most critically acclaimed games, including World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Hearthstone®, StarCraft®, and Diablo®.