Warcraft national server, can it be reopened before the Chinese New Year?
It just so happened that the shutdown was at the time of the Chinese New Year.
Microsoft is in a hurry!
After a year, NetEase and Blizzard, which had "broken up unhappily", came to the news of "reunion".
On the evening of December 25, as soon as the news of "NetEase and Blizzard restarting cooperation" came out, the discussion of related topics quickly rushed to the hot search on Weibo.
According to the Financial Associated Press, in the past period, Blizzard has negotiated the "return of the national server" with a number of domestic game manufacturers.
In the end, he chose to re-join hands with NetEase.
However, the report also mentioned that after the cooperation is confirmed, NetEase and Blizzard need to rebuild the national server operation team and test the server and related systems, so players may have to wait half a year or more for the game to be relaunched.
But for this incident, Blizzard and NetEase have remained silent.
The national uniform, is it really coming back?
However, according to the media, starting from December 20, the "World of Warcraft" community has been re-launched in the "NetEase God".
The World of Warcraft community has begun to update the relevant "blue sticker" content one after another, updating new content including the battle in the center of the earth and the Warcraft exploration server.
Previously, the news in the community circle about NetEase stopping the representation of "World of Warcraft" was no longer searchable.
In the eyes of industry insiders, the pace of Blizzard's return to the national server is gradually accelerating.
First, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been settled.
Second, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who is regarded by the outside world as the "culprit" of NetEase Blizzard's "separation", has announced that he will officially step down on December 29.
In October, after more than a year of tug-of-war, Microsoft officially completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard for a $68.7 billion acquisition fee and the sale of Activision Blizzard cloud game rights to Ubisoft Entertainment.
The dust has finally settled on the biggest acquisition in the history of gaming.
At the same time, the huge attraction of the Chinese market also makes Microsoft perhaps willing to micro-Microsoft.
After all, the 300 billion game market sales revenue and 668 million game users mean that Microsoft will definitely not let go of the Chinese market.
Blizzard's national service road, what will happen?
In this regard, Yang Liu, a reporter from Caijing magazine, and Li Haoyue, a reporter from Securities Daily, had an exchange with Shule respectively.
If you come back, you must come back, and the shortcut is naturally NetEase, but there is no suspense about how much value it is to come back.
Choosing NetEase is the shortest path for Blizzard to reopen the national server, and it is also one of the best choices for Microsoft to transform Blizzard's IP mobile game.
There are no eternal friends in the mall, only eternal interests, and the departure of Activision Blizzard CEO is also a step up in a sense.
But in fact, NetEase will not focus on Blizzard's existing games, especially now that the egg boy party is a big success.
Discontinued, the anniversary festival is coming soon!
At present, NetEase may pay more attention to Blizzard's IP-adapted mobile games, while Microsoft and Activision Blizzard focus on NetEase's existing server reserves that originally served Blizzard's games (the relevant operators have been scattered).
On this basis, there may be a premise for the two sides to make peace, but Microsoft should make huge concessions to this, just as it did with major game platforms and companies in order to acquire Activision Blizzard.
It's just that it will take time for the rebuilding team and the version to be reopened, and it is still unknown whether the two sides will cooperate.
The anniversary of the suspension is approaching, and the player's heart is broken, and everything is no longer able to go back.
Re-entering the Chinese market, Activision Blizzard's biggest benefit is simply to maintain the presence of Blizzard's IP.
With the aging of the Blizzard series, the whole is shrinking, but the sense of presence is there, and there will be new games in the future, which will likely become a great addition.
At the same time, it can explore the way for Microsoft's follow-up cooperation in the Chinese market.
Re-entering China can only be a long-term layout for Microsoft's own game business.
For Microsoft, its own gaming business is mainly focused on Xbox, and it is difficult to break through quickly due to the problem of moderation.
But for Microsoft to enter the mobile game market, NetEase is a good partner, far more stable than Tencent's cooperation and competition.
If cooperation is re-established, what are the advantages and disadvantages of both sides?
The existing servers, the teams that can be recalled, and the approval of the corresponding faster version number restart are all advantages of NetEase, and they are also a shortcut to the restart of Blizzard's national server.
But for NetEase, the real opportunity for cooperation lies in Microsoft's desire to enter the field of mobile games, and this is an advantageous project for Chinese game manufacturers.
It's just that this kind of cooperation may be the same as "Diablo: Immortal", cooperative research and development, the national server belongs to NetEase, and overseas expansion belongs to Microsoft, everyone takes what they need.
However, for NetEase, which has gained experience in overseas expansion and Blizzard game development, its sense of gain is not strong, and its overseas expansion is only whether it can have more interaction with Microsoft Xbox.
Anyway, at the moment it is Microsoft and Blizzard who are in a hurry.
Microsoft, I really haven't got a choice yet!
NetEase is not the Nine Cities of the year, its independent research and development capabilities are strong, there are many popular works, and many years of cooperation with Blizzard have gained more experience in research and operation to participate in global competition.
On the contrary, Blizzard needs to find new partners to continue the operation of its products in China.
Moreover, the operational capabilities of the new affiliates and the degree of co-development in the future will have a great impact on the future of Activision Blizzard, after all, China is the world's largest game market.
As for what Blizzard and Microsoft will do once the national server returns, it is obvious that there are no more than three points:
The first is the stable operation of the old game.
Including the return of the original Activision Blizzard core technical personnel, to ensure that Activision Blizzard quickly recovers its combat effectiveness.
The second is the research and operation of new games with old IPs.
Especially in the state that "Overwatch" has been in a situation from the league to the new work, and only "Diablo" has achieved a counterattack on the new work, it is necessary to use more and better old IP new works to consolidate Microsoft's voice in the game world.
The third is the promotion of joint research and development.
It is extremely important to develop mobile games through Activision Blizzard IP, especially to jointly develop Activision Blizzard IP mobile games with Chinese game manufacturers, to quickly form Blizzard's influence in the mobile game market, and to learn from Xi experience in mobile game research and operation.
It's just that, after this year, there will be no such store.
Microsoft is in a hurry, Blizzard is even more anxious, and domestic game manufacturers are not in a hurry.
What's more, those who can act as agents for Warcraft, the number of domestic ones, Tencent, NetEase, miHoYo, nothing else.
Author Zhang Shule, columnist of People's Daily Online and People's Post and Telegraph, expert of China Economic Media Think Tank, senior TMT industry commentator, newly published "We-Media Writing from Beginner to Mastery" (Tsinghua University Press) #暴雪中国回应魔兽世界国服代理合作#