Blizzard hits back at NetEase amid lawsuit reports
The ongoing feud between Blizzard and NetEase ramped up this week after reports out of China suggested NetEase had filed a lawsuit against the World of Warcraft maker demanding £35m.
Wowhead covered a report from Sina Technology that claimed NetEase has filed a lawsuit in Shanghai against Blizzard seeking ¥300 million in refunds for discontinued games and services to the over one million players it had in the region before servers were shut down in January.
World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Diablo 3, Heroes of the Storm and the StarCraft series became unplayable in China on 24th January, when NetEase's licence expired (mobile game Diablo Immortal was unaffected).
A war of words between the two companies has run since 2022, when it became clear negotiations to extend their 14-year partnership had broken down.
Late last year, a senior figure at NetEase publicly criticised the actions of an unnamed «jerk» for the breakdown in relationship between his company and Activision Blizzard, which is run by controversial boss Bobby Kotick.
NetEase president of global investment and partnership Simon Zhu — who said he had spent «10,000 hours» playing Blizzard's games — blamed behind the scenes «damage» done by a «jerk».
«One day, when what has happened behind the scene could be told, developers and gamers will have a whole new level understanding of how much damage a jerk can make,» Zhu wrote at the time. «Feel terrible for players who lived in those worlds.»
Now, according to Sina Technology, NetEase's lawsuit demands compensation for refunds it insists it paid to players, unsold merch and deposits on undeveloped games.
There's also apparent word of «unequal provisions favouring Blizzard Entertainment» in the licence
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