NetEase and Blizzard: How WoW Came Back to China

Key Takeaways

Blizzard and NetEase renewed their publishing agreement in April 2024, ending the roughly 15-month blackout of Blizzard games in mainland China.
Chinese servers had gone dark at midnight on January 23, 2023, freezing accounts on Dragonflight Patch 10.0.4; Patch 10.0.5 shipped globally the next day and never reached China.
The reunion only became possible after Microsoft closed its Activision Blizzard acquisition on October 13, 2023 and Bobby Kotick, who had ended the original deal, departed on December 29, 2023.
The deal restored World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and the Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft catalog; a separate Microsoft Gaming and NetEase agreement explored bringing NetEase titles to Xbox.
WoW came back in stages: Classic on June 27, 2024 and retail on August 1, 2024, letting Chinese players join The War Within.
Over two million players pre-registered, and roughly 147,000 accounts were reported reactivated as characters preserved during the outage came back online.

For about 15 months, one of the largest World of Warcraft communities on the planet was locked out of the game. The 14-year partnership between Blizzard and NetEase collapsed in late 2022, Chinese servers went dark in January 2023, and millions of players were left staring at frozen accounts. Then, in April 2024, the two companies shook hands again. Here is how the split happened, what finally thawed it, and how the return actually played out.

Why the Partnership Broke Down

NetEase had operated Blizzard's games in China since 2008, but renewal talks fell apart in November 2022. The sticking point was intellectual-property control and terms: Blizzard, then led by Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, offered a six-month extension while it looked for a new local partner, and NetEase publicly rejected the offer as unreasonable. When no deal materialized, the servers were switched off at midnight on January 23, 2023.

The client in China was still on Dragonflight Patch 10.0.4 when the lights went out. Patch 10.0.5 launched globally the very next day, on January 24, 2023, and never reached Chinese players, so accounts effectively froze one patch behind the rest of the world. To preserve progress, Blizzard let players download roughly two decades of character data in a process the community grimly nicknamed a "digital cremation," hoping the files could one day be restored. The breakup also had a symbolic sendoff: NetEase employees dismantled the office Orc statue at the Blizzard-China campus on livestream.

What Finally Changed

Two things had to move before a reunion was realistic, and both happened in 2023. First, Microsoft closed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard on October 13, 2023, putting Blizzard under new ownership with a very different appetite for the Chinese market. Second, Bobby Kotick, the executive most associated with the original breakdown, departed the company on December 29, 2023. With new leadership in place under Blizzard president Johanna Faries, the door reopened, and the renewed partnership was announced in April 2024.

The Renewed Deal and the Xbox Half

The agreement covered the same catalog Chinese players had before the shutdown: World of Warcraft and Hearthstone, plus games across the Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft universes. It also came with a reciprocal twist. In the same announcement, Microsoft Gaming and NetEase entered a separate agreement to explore bringing NetEase's own titles to Xbox consoles and other platforms, so the deal ran in both directions rather than simply pushing Blizzard back into China.

Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, framed it as a two-way win: "Returning Blizzard's legendary games to players in China while exploring ways to bring more new titles to Xbox demonstrates our commitment to bringing more games to more players around the world." NetEase CEO William Ding struck a more reconciliatory note, saying the companies were "thrilled to embark on the next chapter, built on trust and mutual respect, to serve our users in this unique community that we've built together."

How the Return Actually Went

The comeback was staged rather than instant. WoW Classic relaunched first, on June 27, 2024, followed by retail World of Warcraft and The War Within pre-patch on August 1, 2024, which let Chinese players join the expansion's global launch later that month. Demand was enormous: more than two million players pre-registered for the return before it went live.

The payoff was that players got their characters back. Roughly 147,000 accounts were reported reactivated and about 92,000 recovered, drawing on the character data preserved during the 2023 outage, and Blizzard offered returning-player compensation to smooth the transition. After more than a year in limbo, the largest lockout in WoW's history ended not with a rebuilt statue but with players logging back into the characters they thought they had lost.

FAQ

Why did Blizzard games disappear from China in 2023?

The 14-year publishing partnership between Blizzard and NetEase was not renewed in November 2022 amid a dispute over intellectual-property control and contract terms. When talks failed, the servers shut down at midnight on January 23, 2023, taking World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft offline in mainland China.

What patch were Chinese accounts frozen on?

Dragonflight Patch 10.0.4. That was the version live in China when the servers went dark on January 23, 2023. Patch 10.0.5 released globally the next day and never reached Chinese players.

When did the NetEase and Blizzard partnership return?

The renewed agreement was announced in April 2024. It restored the same Blizzard catalog China had before, and it included a separate Microsoft Gaming and NetEase deal to explore bringing NetEase titles to Xbox.

When did WoW come back in China?

In stages during summer 2024. WoW Classic returned on June 27, 2024, and retail World of Warcraft with The War Within pre-patch followed on August 1, 2024, ahead of the expansion's global launch that August.

Did players keep their characters?

Largely, yes. Character data was preserved during the 2023 shutdown, and when the game returned roughly 147,000 accounts were reported reactivated. Blizzard also offered returning-player compensation.

What role did Microsoft play?

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, completed on October 13, 2023, changed Blizzard's ownership and leadership, which made the renewed China deal possible. Microsoft Gaming also signed its own agreement with NetEase alongside the Blizzard renewal.

Last reviewed 2026-07-20 against Patch 10.2.6 (Dragonflight), the retail patch live when the April 2024 renewal was announced. Maintained by WowCarry's WoW team.