netease
Latest
Blizzard games are returning to China this summer
Blizzard games including World of Warcraft and Overwatch 2 are returning to China after the publisher reached a new licensing deal with NetEase. The games vanished from the country in January 2023 after a previous agreement expired.
Marvel Rivals is a new Overwatch-like team shooter
Marvel Rivals is a new Overwatch-like team shooter from Marvel Games and NetEase. The multiplayer title will let people play as characters like Black Panther and Spider-Man.
Former Call of Duty designer to lead new NetEase studio
It's been well documented that it's a rough time for the gaming industry, between widespread layoffs and several studio closures. But NetEase is bucking the trend to a degree. It's opening a new studio led by a former Call of Duty multiplayer designer.
China court documents incorrectly showed Activision was being sued by former partner NetEase
Blizzard Entertainment is being sued by former Chinese publishing partner NetEase after servers shutdown in January when the two failed to reach a continuation agreement. NetEase is seeking ¥300 million Yuan (roughly $43.5 million) in damages, which the company says will be put toward issuing refunds for discontinued games and recouping investments from unsold merchandise inventory.
Riot Games sues Chinese tech giant NetEase for allegedly copying 'Valorant'
Riot Games has sued Chinese tech giant NetEase, calling its mobile game Hyper Front "a copy of substantial parts of Valorant.
Blizzard games like 'World of Warcraft' will go offline in China next year
Blizzard Entertainment will be suspending key games like World of Warcraft in China because it failed to reach an agreement with partner NetEase.
Blizzard may have canceled a 'World of Warcraft' mobile spinoff (updated)
Blizzard is said to have axed a 'World of Warcraft' spinoff mobile game despite working on it for three years.
'Diablo Immortal' delayed indefinitely in China just before its planned release date
Publisher NetEase may have run afoul of censors after a viral Weibo post that seemingly referenced President Xi Jinping.
'Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night' will hit iOS and Android next month
The mobile version of the action RPG arrives next month.
'Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night' is coming to iOS and Android
The mobile port of the Castlevania-inspired ARPG will include all console DLC.
Amazon will close its Chinese platform for third-party sellers in July
Amazon is pulling the plug on its e-commerce marketplace for third-party sellers in China. The decision follows a long struggle by American e-commerce companies in the country, who have fallen behind China's faster shopping rivals.
Chinese gaming giant grabs stake in 'Detroit' studio Quantic Dream
China's NetEase may be struggling to get its games whitelisted in its native country, but that isn't stopping it from making waves in the wider gaming industry. The internet giant's gaming unit has acquired a minority stake in David Cage's studio Quantic Dream, best known for its cinematic PlayStation exclusives Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human, both of which incorporate interactive storytelling techniques and motion capture technology. According to NetEase, Quantic Dream will continue to operate independently under the leadership of its co-CEOs Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière.
China expands its gaming whitelist with titles from Tencent and NetEase
More than a month after China lifted its freeze on video games, it's finally given the all clear to a handful of titles from the country's two biggest publishers. Offerings from Tencent and NetEase are on the latest list of 95 government-approved games, according to the South China Morning Post. The video game blockade was introduced in March as the government began restructuring the country's gaming body amid renewed criticism of addiction and sexual and violent content.
China's NetEase invests $100 million in Bungie to make new games
Bungie, the studio behind hits like Halo, Myth and Destiny, has announced a new deal with Chinese online gaming company NetEase to "build new worlds and invite players, new and old, to join us there." In China NetEase publishes several Blizzard games like Overwatch, Hearthstone and World of Warcraft, among other titles. GamesIndustry reports that NetEase is making a $100 million investment in Bungie that will snag it a minority stake in the developer, but that apparently won't impact Bungie's agreement with Activision, and any decision to bring Destiny to China is still Activision's.
Android's official augmented reality toolkit is available to the public
Google's take on a mobile augmented reality framework is no longer limited to a modestly-sized preview. It just released ARCore 1.0, letting anyone publish Android apps that take advantage of the toolkit to meld virtual objects with the real world. To no one's surprise, Google has already lined up apps from big-name brands to take advantage of the new platform. Snapchat has an AR "portal" that takes you inside FC Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium, while Porsche lets you explore the Mission E Concept as if it were parked in front of you. A number of games (such as Ghostbusters World and a range of titles from NetEase) and home furnishing apps (Sotheby's, JD.com, Easyhome and Otto) are also on tap.
Google may lean on a partner to sell Android apps in China
Google's presence in China is limited, to put it mildly, but it might have found a way to get its foot in the door. The Information sources claim that Chinese internet veteran NetEase is talking to Google about launching the Play Store in China. There's no guarantee that the talks will lead anywhere, but NetEase may be just the partner Google is looking for. Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt has previously explained that Google needed a business ally that could negotiate the intricacies of both Google and the Chinese government -- that's clearly the case here.
Chinese MMO Revelation Online entering open beta January 15th
Want to combine the free flight of Aion with action combat and an open skill progression system? That's a quick gloss of how testers report Revelation Online plays. But you don't have to take anyone else's word for it, as the game will be entering open beta on January 15th... in China. So you will have to muddle through not speaking the language of the game to test it. Alternately, you can start studying now and hope you have a natural gift for learning it in two months. Steparu reports that setting up an account will work even for international players, although there is the possibility that the game will require a cell phone or some other region-lock method. Players who don't want to fuss with that can rest somewhat easier knowing that the development team is looking into US publishing deals as well, but if all goes well, you can still try the game out early next year.
Blizzard wins lawsuit and shuts down Hearthstone clone
Back in January we reported that Blizzard levied a lawsuit against Unico Interactive for its game, Legend of Crouching Dragon, which Blizzard claimed was a reskinned clone of Hearthstone. It looks as though the courts agreed, awarding Blizzard and its Chinese partner NetEase $1.6 million due to copyright infringement. Legend of Crouching Dragon has been removed from app stores, and Unico said that it will be reimbursing players for money spent on it to date. Even with the ruling, Unico remains defiant against "false stories" in the press and claims that it hasn't seen any official order to pay compensation to Blizzard.
World of Warcraft subscription fee goes up in China
Playing World of Warcraft in China is a little different than playing World of Warcraft just about anywhere else. In addition to content changes to suit the Chinese government -- like corpses being replaced with gravestones -- the payment method is different. Instead of paying for WoW on a monthly basis, Chinese gamers pay an hourly rate for access. But starting on October 16th, that rate is getting an increase -- the game's first price change since it launched in the region -- and a pretty sizable one, at that. The new fees are 30¥ (about $5) for 2700 minutes and 15¥ (about $2.50) for 1350 minutes, an increase of 45%. Though those rates may seem low by our standards, it's a big increase for Chinese gamers, who have accounted for more of WoW's recent subscriber drop than gamers elsewhere. A big rate hike doesn't seem likely to help the game hold on to the game's Chinese subscribers, who don't even have this fall's launch of Warlords of Draenor to look forward to.
