NetEase and Blizzard announced a few weeks ago the end of their agreement on the exploitation of Blizzard game licenses in Chinese territory by NetEase. In 6 months the games will be taken off the market, and NetEase has started laying off or reassigning team members who have maintained Blizzard games for over 14 years.
The news has been given by the people of my city, and claims that the staff that NetEase is laying off or reassigning to other roles within the company, were part of the Shanghail EaseNet Network Technology group. The transferred or laid off staff are mostly Blizzard game maintenance staff, and not necessarily staff directly involved in game development.
This means that games like World of Warcraft, Overwatch 2, Hearthstone, and others will be pulled from digital shelves in China, and gamers will no longer be able to access them. However, Diablo Immortal will continue to operate.
Despite multiple layoffs, NetEase has kept 10 employees to continue to support the games for the remaining 6 months. And, it is more than likely that in six months they will also be fired.
The day after the drama, the president of NetEase, via his LinkedIn, lashed out at the company, stating that the deal was an example of “how much damage a jerk can do.”
