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Game-Time Report/When I posted this picture for the ten thousandth time, unexpectedly, what everyone has been waiting for seems to be coming true.
Recently, the media outlet @无码 issued an article saying that according to reliable sources, NetEase will officially announce the return of Blizzard games to the national server within this week.The accompanying picture shows the offline meeting between NetEase CEO Ding Lei and Blizzard CEOand also swore, “I’ll keep it true and I won’t give you my head.”
Just when everyone thought this was another rumor, the official account of Sina Technology posted that after official confirmation with NetEase Group, “Blizzard’s return to the national server will definitely be officially announced on April 10th,” and added that this NetEase Leihuo is responsible for the second cooperation between the two parties to “reunite”, and it is “extremely confidential.”
After the news broke, NetEase’s share price in Hong Kong stocks rose by more than 4%.
Although the specific information and details regarding whether Blizzard’s national server will return, when and in what form, whether players’ account information can be inherited, etc., we have to wait for NetEase’s possible announcement tomorrow (April 10) to know.
However, compared to the various indirect evidences over the past year or so, such as the rehiring of old employees, the online launch of the official website, and the disappearance of relevant suspension statements in NetEase Masters, this time there are “spoilers” about NetEase’s official fate, and none of them are credible. degree is higher.
And no matter what, when things get to this point, NetEase will definitely make a statement and give players an explanation. After all, it would be somewhat unkind to continue to troll players.
NetEase is rumored to be hiring back old employees, but apparently the Spring Festival has passed
After the incident came to a head, related terms such as “Blizzard’s return” and “NetEase’s response to Blizzard’s return to the national server” quickly appeared on the hot search lists on Weibo and other platforms, with a large number of netizens making complaints or expressing their expectations under the terms.
Although due to the agency cooperation of Blizzard games, NetEase and Blizzard have been having a very unpleasant quarrel on the public platform since the end of 2022, and each has begun to play openly and secretly in public opinion.
But business is business after all. With Activision Blizzard successfully acquired by Microsoft last year and the company’s former CEO Bobby Kotick resigning with a huge sum of money, the two parties have the conditions to negotiate on common interests again. Game-Time is actually not surprised at all. “Old love rekindled”, and considering the version number issue, Blizzard and NetEase’s remarriage has always been the most suitable choice.
The Shanghai gaming circle is devastated by the loss of Blizzard projects, the biggest loss in this wave
Blizzard’s national server can return smoothly, Microsoft and NetEase can repair the cracks, and even player data can be completely preserved. Judging from the current situation, the “divorce and remarriage” drama of more than a year has been completed, and it has actually become an “operations team relocation”. As a result, the Shanghai gaming circle became the biggest loser.
The Shanghai NetEase office was demolished last year
You must know that shortly after Blizzard issued its statement in November 2022, NetEase actually launched an intensive “de-Blizzardization” operation. Not only did it clear out and dismantle the NetEase office that was previously located at the Zhangjiang Power Collection Port on Bibo Road, Shanghai, from the pulse According to information from public platforms such as Maimai, almost all members of NetEase’s operations team have been disbanded, affecting hundreds of people.
According to previously revealed information,After the return of Blizzard games, the two business groups of NetEase Interactive Entertainment Guangzhou and Leihuo will be jointly responsible, with the former responsible for operations and the latter responsible for marketing.In order to get closer to Blizzard and serve NetEase’s new overseas projects, netizens broke the news in January this year that NetEase built a new office in Irvine, California, and Blizzard’s headquarters is in Irvine.
This time Blizzard games return to the national server. In order to resume game operations as quickly as possible, NetEase has transferred hundreds of related jobs to Guangzhou and Hangzhou. This is reasonable and urgent. However, this is also equivalent to the loss of the “Blizzard Family Bucket” operation in Shanghai. Teams, from The9 to NetEase, Blizzard Games and Shanghai, the 20-year marriage seems to be really coming to an end.
Of course, after the Blizzard game national server restarts operations, we can no longer speculate on whether NetEase will relocate some Blizzard game national server teams in Shanghai in the future, but it is not ruled out.
The Shanghai gaming scene has been miserable enough in the past two years. Of the more than 50 two-dimensional games that hit the streets last year, the only two that were relatively successful were MiHoYo’s “Skydome Railway” and “1999” produced by Guangzhou-based DeepBlue Interactive. A large number of second-dimensional games were killed, and subsequently Companies have gone bankrupt and teams have been laid off. The most severely injured is the Shanghai gaming circle, where two-dimensional games are concentrated. In addition to the two-dimensional projects, more Shanghai game companies and products under development have been axed. Shanghai, which has always been a blessed place for foreign investment, has also seen layoffs by foreign-funded game companies in Shanghai.
In the past few years, a large number of gamers from all over the country went to Shanghai to pursue their dreams. But now that costs have been reduced and efficiency increased, it has become increasingly difficult for gamers to find jobs in Shanghai. Some colleagues have reported that they did not find jobs in Shanghai after losing their jobs, but instead went elsewhere. The resume is successful, which is sad and worthy of reflection.
Friends and businessmen are “vomiting after eating”. Will Warcraft mobile game be put back on the agenda?
Of course, in addition to Shanghai, other domestic MMO games that were affected by the return of Blizzard’s national server last year were naturally affected by the slogan of hosting World of Warcraft players. After Blizzard’s “World of Warcraft” national server was shut down last year, Game-Time learned that some old domestic MMO products saw double-digit growth in revenue, and some MMO client games also targeted old World of Warcraft players. It can be said that they were ruthless. I got a lot of benefits.
With the return of “World of Warcraft” to the national server, it’s time to spit it out again. Of course, the specific impact on each MMO product will require further observation after “World of Warcraft” resumes operations.
But when it comes to MMOs, what Game-Time is actually looking forward to is that with the re-establishment of the three-party partnership between NetEase, Microsoft and Blizzard, whether the “NetEase self-developed Warcraft IP mobile game project” that was previously canceled due to some reasons can get a “resurrection card” .
Although Blizzard just publicly stated not long ago that although it is open to licensing the Warcraft IP, especially for mobile games, “it will only agree to such a deal if the conditions are perfect.”
But with the DNF mobile game being reviewed in China, Warcraft can be said to be the only IP among the MMO online game masterpieces of the old era that does not have an MMO mobile game. If NetEase and Blizzard can reach new cooperation on IP and mobile game planning, it will be the icing on the cake for Blizzard’s return to the national server.
