Rumor: Blizzard Games May Return to China Soon

gamerant.com:

Blizzard games may be coming back to China soon via leased servers from South Korea. According to a trusted source, an unnamed Korean company believes it can operate Blizzard games in China through these servers, albeit at a high cost.

In January 2023, Blizzard ceased operations in China after a fallout with NetEase, the company that was previously responsible for running its games through the country’s strict media policies. For the last year, gamers in China have had no way to legally play any Blizzard games outside of Diablo Immortal, which was published through a separate agreement.

Now, it seems like Chinese players may soon be able to regain access to the Diablo, Overwatch, StarCraft, and Warcraft franchises. According to Nico_oq, a trusted source of Blizzard news in Asia, an unnamed company in South Korea is planning on hosting Blizzard games in China through a leasing agreement. If this rumor is true, and Blizzard grants it permission, this company's new servers will be able to bring back access to Blizzard games for Chinese customers for the first time in a year. However, maintaining these servers is prohibitively expensive, so without more sponsors, it may be a temporary solution.

Chinese gamers have missed out on a lot of Blizzard games over the last year. Diablo 4 came out after the NetEase agreement dissolved, so Chinese fans never got the chance to play the hit ARPG. These players also missed most of Overwatch 2 and World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, as the servers closed a few months after each game’s launch. Luckily, World of Warcraft fans were able to download their characters’ data, so hopefully they will be able to pick up right where they left off if this leasing deal goes through.

Though Nico_oq is a trusted source of information, it is important to note that nothing is set in stone yet. Blizzard has yet to make a formal announcement on this subject, and there is no guarantee this leasing agreement will go through. Even so, the prospect of bringing