![]() ![]() This irony is far from lost on gamers amid the breaking story, who are now keen to push a narrative that Blizzard Entertainment tried hard to be pro-China, but still got kicked to the curb in the end. This culminated in the player-created design and pushing of a Pro-Hong Kong Mei, entirely made out of spite from fans aimed at Blizzard for its stance during that time. What a large number of gamers following the news find extra sweet about the service stoppage is Blizzard being spurned by the country that was the main cause behind the infamous 2019 Blizzard Boycott, which came about as the brand started to clamp down on players expressing their wish for a Free Hong Kong. ![]() Overwatch 2, World of Warcraft, and Hearthstone officially shut down in China. bogur – CEO of Winton January 23, 2023Ĭhina is free from Overwatch 2 /h4nIzqnMGq I think its funny that overwatch 2 is celebrating chinese new year while china cant even play the game Overwatch Cavalry □□ January 23, 2023 It is unclear when Blizzard will be able to find a new partner. Overwatch 2 has been shut down in mainland China □□Īfter NetEase and Blizzard Entertainment were unable to come to an agreement, the licence has come to an end. With the fateful January date for the end of service quickly approaching, Blizzard ultimately failed to negotiate a replacement service in time, leading to all of the developer's games now ceasing their service in the Chinese market, much to the chagrin of gamers who were fed up with the company. ![]() Rare Replay was a compilation of 30 classic Rare developed games and is one of the first time Microsoft has tried to capitalize on its IP library.As usual for many companies that are not owned by China or have close ties with the country, the cost of doing business in the Chinese market is that brands typically need to go through a China-owned business, which is what Activision-Blizzard had been doing to keep it's myriad of video games accessible to Chinese consumers.įor many years, this was done through a partnership with the company NetEase, who last year announced that they would not be renewing their contract with Blizzard to secure licensing for its games in China. Otherwise the title will be exclusive to subscribers. It was last announced in January 2022 that Game Pass only had 25 million subscribers ( Microsoft did not update this number in its January 2023 financial filing).Īs a minor side note, consumers that bought the 2015 Xbox One game Rare Replay will be able to download GoldenEye 007 without being a Game Pass subscriber. Switch Online has reached 36 million subscribers despite being a service mainly for older titles from the 1980s and 1990s. The Game Pass version will include this local multiplayer but it appears adding online play will be exclusive to Switch consumers. The original GoldenEye 007 was pre-online play but the title was noted for its split-screen multiplayer that allowed up to 4 players to compete the old-fashioned (together in a room on a single TV set). The Switch has been behind Xbox and PlayStation platforms when it comes to online play. Furthermore, online play, a big attraction of the game, is exclusive to the Switch Online version. What is notable is that this is basically an exclusive for online subscribers to either the Xbox Game Pass or the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. The original announcement came via the MGM James Bond site so it is assumed they helped broker a compromise.
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