A few days ago, the news of NetEase Blizzard's "compound" rushed to the hot search, causing discussions in the outside world.
From the perspective of enterprises, it is normal for game manufacturers to divide and merge due to commercial interests, and from the perspective of marketing, NetEase has made great efforts to "break up" a year ago and now make a "reunion" official announcement. When the popularity subsides slightly, TOP will take you to review how NetEase allows ordinary business behaviors to involve user emotions and participation, and successfully packages them as event marketing that is beneficial to the brand image.
The live broadcast dismantled the "former" figure and released the drink connotation "Blizzard Green Tea"
On November 17, 2022, Blizzard announced without warning that its partnership with NetEase would expire on January 23 of the following year, and planned to suspend a number of services in Chinese mainland including popular games such as Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Diablo 3 at that time.
Since NetEase won the rights to many of Blizzard's games in 2008, the two companies have worked closely together for 15 years. The sudden closure of the server not only hurt the feelings of players, but also touched the interests of many parties, and for a while, everyone discussed the reasons for the breakdown of the contract, and some negative reports emerged that "NetEase wants IP control".
In this regard, NetEase's official public account issued a long explanation, responding to Blizzard's "pushing" statement with a tough attitude, directly pointing out that Blizzard's behavior was "arrogant, inappropriate, and not in line with commercial logic".
Source: NetEase public account
The note explains three issues in a well-founded way, namely a note on "NetEase rejects a six-month extension of service proposed by Blizzard", a note on the statement that "NetEase wants IP control" reported by the media, and a reminder on the archiving of World of Warcraft gamers' progress. NetEase's explanation finally settled on the user experience, skillfully combining reason and emotion, showing a tough but caring attitude of users, and received a lot of praise.
Source: NetEase public account
After the image of the "victim" was established, NetEase Naraka: Infernal Live dismantled the "former" figure, and the famous weapon blood roar sculpture of "World of Warcraft" in the park was smashed, pushing the player's grief and anger to a peak. This act was interpreted by many players as a symbol of the "breakup" of both parties and a sign of the end of an era.
Image source network
At the same time, the coffee bar in the NetEase park launched the "Blizzard Green Tea" drink, which is a "yin and yang" Blizzard. The poster reads meaningfully: After drinking this cup, let's disperse. Due to the large number of people ordering, the queue for orders once lasted for more than 3 hours, resulting in the coffee bar having to temporarily close the ordering channel.
Image source network
Blizzard turned back, and NetEase aimed at globalization
In the past year or so, as soon as the news of NetEase Blizzard's reunion came out, the operation of various game accounts began to be busy. Naraka: Bladepoint has a call back as a welcome: We're out of the money for Bloodroar. It can be seen that the Internet still has memories, and although the sculpture can be repaired, the lost more than a year has really consumed the feelings of players.
Taking the logo of "Recasting Blood Roar" as the starting point, Blizzard's official website, NetEase Cloud Music, and NetEase God launched related activities and rewards, saying that they would design and cast a new Blood Roar sculpture in an attempt to recall old players and mobilize the enthusiasm of players to participate.
Source: Blizzard's official website
It will still take some time for the technical preparation of the server launch, but today, NetEase is in a stronger position. Blizzard's revenue and net profit are still in decline, and in 2023, which is separate from Blizzard, NetEase's game revenue has steadily increased, and its stock price has also achieved a significant increase of nearly double.
All of Blizzard's games in China combined may not be as large as NetEase's "Egg Boy Party" and "Against the Cold" and other individual head products, and NetEase may not urgently need Blizzard's return to support its game product line. Compared with Blizzard, today's NetEase is more concerned about Microsoft's Xbox platform and globalization opportunities behind it, which has been reflected in the official announcement, this time it is not so much the reunion of NetEase and Blizzard, but the "newlywed" of NetEase and Microsoft.
Image source Weibo @Blizzard China
According to the data of the "2023 China Game Industry Report", the actual sales revenue of the domestic game market reached 302.964 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.95%, breaking the 300 billion yuan mark for the first time. The importance of the Chinese game market and NetEase's strong operational capabilities are both reasons why Blizzard chose to compound, and this time, NetEase has its own way to go.
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