Blizzard China is looking for a chance to bring its games back to Chinese players, after breaking up its 14-year tieup with NetEase (9999).
The US video games company expressed its thanks to Chinese players on Weibo and said it is seeking opportunities to bring its games like "World of Warcraft" and "Diablo" back to players.
Meanwhile, there are rumors that Tencent (0700) or other game companies will potentially tie up with Blizzard.
But Tencent responded to the rumors by saying it has no information to add to the matter, saying people would need to approach Blizzard itself.
A mainland broker analyst also said that "taking over the business requires a license reapplication, and so the possibility of a third party taking over is very small."
In 2021, a total of 755 licenses were issued, 679 domestic games and 76 overseas ones, with the latter seeing a 46.26 percent decrease from 2020. Overseas games are estimated to face at least a three-month wait.
According to mainland media, The9, the former publisher of "World of Warcraft" in China before NetEase, is in talks with Microsoft to take the franchise back for a fifth of the total value.
Its chairman, Zhu Jun, left Singapore yesterday, and a WeChat screenshot leak showed he had arrived in Shanghai.
Perfect World, the publisher of the overseas game Counter-Strike Global Offensive in China, said it has the capability and experience to operate such games but had no information to share on whether it is interested in approaching Blizzard.
Blizzard Entertainment games get cosplay treatment ahead of a Blizzcon gaming convention.
