Asia Tech Wire (Apr 9) -- Shares of Chinese video gaming giant NetEase Inc. (9999.HK, NTES:NASDAQ) rose after rumors of an upcoming resumption of a partnership with World of Warcraft developer Blizzard.
Market news on Tuesday said U.S. game developer Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase would announce a partnership on Wednesday.
NetEase's Hong Kong-listed shares closed at HK$157.50, up more than 4%, following the news, while its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) also rose 4% to $100.85 in premarket trading.
It is worth noting that there are reportedly new changes in this cooperation between NetEase and Blizzard.
First, the operating entity is different. The NetEase team that took over the operation of Blizzard games in China this time is NetEase's ThunderFire, and a new operation teamwill be in Guangzhou.
The former operator of Blizzard games in China was Shanghai EaseNet Network Technology Co., Ltd, but as the cooperation between Blizzard and NetEase broke down two years ago, the firm collapsed and laid off its employees.
Second, the main body of cooperation is different, Blizzard has been acquired by Microsoft in October last year, this time it is actually the cooperation between Microsoft and NetEase.
A source related to NetEase confirmed the resumption of the partnership to Chinese Internet company Sina's media outlet, saying, "The announcement of the partnership is mainly under the charge of NetEase's ThunderFire business group, with a high degree of confidentiality."
Another source close to the matter said that Blizzard will send out an announcement about the resumption of the partnership first, and then NetEase will follow suit.
The source also pointed out that it would be around 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. (UTC +8) on Wednesday morning when NetEase would officially release the statement.
Although the two companies would announce the resumption of their partnership, the earliest Blizzard games could be available in China would be in the summer of this year.
Earlier on Tuesday, an influencer active on Chinese social media platform Weibo also posted a photo suggesting that Blizzard and NetEase were resuming their partnership.
The photo showed NetEase CEO William Ding meeting with a number of people, including a woman with long curly hair who the influencer claimed was Blizzard's new CEO Johanna Faries.
And the social media influencer said, "Blizzard's return will be officially announced this week …… heard that things are going well with NetEase."
This means that Chinese consumers will once again be able to play World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch, and other series of Blizzard games once the two sides resume their partnership.
In fact, since Blizzard announced the end of its partnership with NetEase at the end of November 2022, there have been several rumors about Blizzard's return to the Chinese market.
Chinese media outlet The Paper reported in late November last year that Blizzard was in talks with NetEase, Tencent, and other Chinese video game companies in order to return to China.
Even before that, there was news that Blizzard was seeking new agency partnerships with Tencent, TikTok owner ByteDance, Genshin Impact developer miHoYo, and others.
