Text/Chen Haoxing
On April 10, NetEase, Blizzard Entertainment and Microsoft Games jointly announced that Blizzard Entertainment's game works will return to the Chinese mainland market from this summer according to the updated game publishing agreement.
This means that Blizzard and NetEase, which have "broken up" for more than a year, have decided to "get back together" and continue to provide services for national players in the future. Why did the two break up before, and why did they choose to "continue the frontier" at this time?
Why did you choose to "continue the frontier" at this time?
If you want to understand the reason for the "reunion" of the two parties, you have to start with the last "breakup".
On November 17, 2022, Blizzard announced that due to the expiration of the current license agreement with NetEase on January 23, 2023, NetEase will suspend the operation of game servers such as "World of Warcraft".
Previously, NetEase announced the termination of the operation of Blizzard's game products.
But at that time, NetEase did not want to suspend its cooperation with Blizzard. NetEase CEO Ding Lei once responded to this matter: "We very much hope to continue to represent Blizzard games, and we have made a lot of efforts to do so, but the negotiation is far more difficult than expected." ”
During the "cooling-off period" of more than two months before the official shutdown, Blizzard proposed to extend the agreement signed in 2019 for six months, and find a new partner to replace NetEase during this period. Some netizens believe that this is like "looking for a new love in the ex's house". NetEase naturally couldn't agree.
Finally, NetEase issued an announcement on the expiration date of the cooperation, officially announcing the suspension of Blizzard games. NetEase said in the announcement that it hopes that this suspension is not the end of the national server players, "but just a helpless pause".
Despite the reluctance to break up, there are all kinds of signs that Blizzard and NetEase have not broken up, and it is only a matter of time before they "get back together". Industry insiders believe that there are two reasons for the two sides to "renew the frontier" this time.
Liu Mengfei, a teacher, master's tutor and game scholar of the Department of Digital Media, School of Art and Media, Beijing Normal University, said in an interview with China News Service that first of all, the number of large domestic game operators is limited, only NetEase and Blizzard have a 14-year cooperation foundation, and have invested a lot of resources in the operation of "World of Warcraft", and its core employees and even executives are Blizzard gamers. Therefore, NetEase has always been the most suitable partner for Blizzard.
Secondly, during the "breakup" between the two parties, Microsoft successfully acquired Activision Blizzard and made large-scale adjustments to Blizzard's internal personnel. Subsequently, Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard, who had promoted the "breakup" of Blizzard and NetEase, said that he would leave in 2024.
In Liu's view, the main reason for the two sides to stop working together last year was Bobby Caldecott's unsatisfactory management style. He focused on capital gains at the expense of the company's long-term growth. This year's departure of Bobby Caldecott and a massive change in Blizzard's leadership have brought a turnaround for the two sides to work together again.
Who earned the "compound" of the two sides?
During the "breakup" between Blizzard and NetEase, the activity of some domestic gamers decreased due to the suspension of services. At the same time, the independent research and development of domestic games and the fierce competition in the market also bring challenges to Blizzard games.
Tang Yu, a mobile game entrepreneur and head of Kaitian Genesis Group and Kaitian Boutique Studio, said in an interview with China News Service that Chinese gamers are still Blizzard's most important customers, and this "reunion" is definitely a good thing for them. Blizzard can re-maintain its relationship with the Chinese market and seek new cooperation models to revitalize the game.
However, from the perspective of the game market segment, mobile games have become an unshakable mainstream game category in the Chinese game market, and the competitiveness of console games is significantly different from that of mobile games and client games.
Liu Mengfei believes that although the global console game market has shaken off some decline, it still cannot compete with the booming mobile game market. The "reunion" between Blizzard and NetEase is more like a choice that both parties have to choose under the current situation, rather than who takes advantage of whom.
It is reported that there are also new changes in the cooperation between the two sides this time. First, the operating entities are different, the NetEase team that took over Blizzard's national service is NetEase Thunderfire Studio, and the new operation team is in Guangzhou. The second is the main body of cooperation, Blizzard was acquired by Microsoft, and this time it is actually a cooperation between Microsoft and NetEase.
The player's struggle and anticipation
The "breakup" farce of more than a year has finally come to an end, but it is the gamers who are hurt the most, and they have become an overlooked link in the whole story.
Zeyu (pseudonym) is one of the players who has been plagued by the turmoil on Blizzard's game servers. He bluntly said in an interview with the national is through train that although the game can continue to be played after the national server is suspended, it seriously affects the experience. When players are forced to move to another server, all previous virtual items such as luxury equipment are gone, and the national server has missed several version updates, meaning that some virtual achievements may never be earned.
"Changing servers to play games is like losing the keys to your home and having to open a hotel outside, but who would want to decorate the hotel?" Zeyu said.
Liu Mengfei believes that modern games have become not only entertainment, but also part of economic activities. The game not only has a story, but more importantly, the player has put a lot of labor into it and created economic value. The shutdown of a server by a game company is equivalent to shutting down an infrastructure that has a lot of players' labor contributions, which involves the fruits of players' labor in the game, as well as the economic output of the digital world.
For example, she said that the suspension of World of Warcraft will affect the benefits of many online streamers, as well as economic activities such as "gold mining" in which players around the world participate. As a result, a gaming company's decision to shut down a server has a significant financial impact on players and needs to be compensated accordingly.
Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase Game Publishing Team also stated in the open letter that in order to make up for the activities and benefits that players missed during the suspension of the national server, they promised to provide ways to regain these opportunities as much as possible, and prepare commemorative benefits and operational activities for players on the national server.
But it remains to be seen if Blizzard can win back the hearts and minds of gamers and regain a foothold in the competitive gaming market.
Source: The country is a through train
Editor: Gao Yanjiao
Editor-in-charge: Wei Xi