{"id":27744,"date":"2023-01-24T13:37:34","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T18:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/?p=27744"},"modified":"2023-01-24T13:37:34","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T18:37:34","slug":"overwatch-2-goes-offline-in-china-after-netease-termination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/overwatch-2-goes-offline-in-china-after-netease-termination\/","title":{"rendered":"Overwatch 2 goes offline in China after NetEase termination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blizzard’s Overwatch 2<\/a> and other titles have officially been shut down in China, owing to the termination of the game developer’s partnership with NetEase. With the game being inaccessible in the region, it is not clear what will become of the Overwatch League teams in the region.<\/p>\n

The shutdown comes as a result of Blizzard and NetEase’s failure to reach an agreeable term on the extension of another licensing agreement, which expired on January 23, 2023. The Chief Executive Officer of NetEase, William Ding, had described it in an earlier statement released in November as a result of their inability to reach an agreement due to “material differences.” <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have put in a great deal of effort and tried with our utmost sincerity to negotiate with Activision Blizzard so that we could continue our collaboration and serve the many dedicated players in China,\u201d said Ding.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, there were material differences on key terms and we could not reach an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the contract expired, all Blizzard’s games available within the region including Warcraft III: Reforged, World of Warcraft<\/a>, the StarCraft series, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch 2, have been taken offline in China. This development has left fans and players in China without access to any Blizzard games as the company works to figure out how to bring the games back online.<\/p>\n

Five Overwatch League<\/a> teams are affected by the shutdown, including the Chengdu Hunters, the Guangzhou Charge, the Hangzhou Spark, the Shanghai Dragons, and the Los Angeles Valiant, who still have their base of operations in China. These teams are now left in a state of limbo as they don\u2019t have access to the game and it is unclear when the game will be back online.<\/p>\n

The Chengdu Hunters were the first to announce the news, posting a tweet that simply said \u201cGoodbye and see you again.\u201d Fans of the franchise expressed their shock and questioned the reason being their exit. This forced the Chinese franchise to further clarify that the esports title has been shut down and as such, they are unable to compete.<\/p>\n

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Overwatch 2 has been shut down in mainland China.<\/p>\n

— Chengdu Hunters (@ChengduHunters) January 23, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n