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Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 and other titles have officially been shut down in China, owing to the termination of the game developer’s partnership with NetEase. With the game being inaccessible in the region, it is not clear what will become of the Overwatch League teams in the region.
The shutdown comes as a result of Blizzard and NetEase’s failure to reach an agreeable term on the extension of another licensing agreement, which expired on January 23, 2023. The Chief Executive Officer of NetEase, William Ding, had described it in an earlier statement released in November as a result of their inability to reach an agreement due to “material differences.”
“We have put in a great deal of effort and tried with our utmost sincerity to negotiate with Activision Blizzard so that we could continue our collaboration and serve the many dedicated players in China,” said Ding.
“However, there were material differences on key terms and we could not reach an agreement.”
With the contract expired, all Blizzard’s games available within the region including Warcraft III: Reforged, World of Warcraft, the StarCraft series, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch 2, have been taken offline in China. This development has left fans and players in China without access to any Blizzard games as the company works to figure out how to bring the games back online.
Five Overwatch League teams are affected by the shutdown, including the Chengdu Hunters, the Guangzhou Charge, the Hangzhou Spark, the Shanghai Dragons, and the Los Angeles Valiant, who still have their base of operations in China. These teams are now left in a state of limbo as they don’t have access to the game and it is unclear when the game will be back online.
The Chengdu Hunters were the first to announce the news, posting a tweet that simply said “Goodbye and see you again.” Fans of the franchise expressed their shock and questioned the reason being their exit. This forced the Chinese franchise to further clarify that the esports title has been shut down and as such, they are unable to compete.
The future of the Overwatch League remains uncertain as the league’s start date is yet to be announced by the event organizers. The free agency has been delayed on multiple occasions as the game developer attempts to find a last solution that sees its games back online in China, and teams have been asked to sign the minimum of players on or before March 13, having previously pushed the date from January 16. This is causing major concern among fans as they are speculating that the league could commence in April or later.
Teams were originally required to have six players signed by March 1, but that deadline has been pushed back without a new date being announced. The uncertainty has raised questions about whether teams will relocate in order to continue competing, or if they will wait for the game to come back online in China. Overall, the situation has left the Overwatch League community in a state of uncertainty and anticipation as they await further updates from the league and Blizzard.
The Overwatch League is one of the most popular esports leagues in the world, with a significant following of the league coming from China. The situation is a difficult one for the league, teams, and fans likewise, as they are now unable to access the game and compete. Fans are teams are eager to see everything back to normal.
In a statement, the Head of the Overwatch League, Sean Miller, commented on the ongoing crisis. While he anticipates the commencement of the 2023 season, he revealed that the organizers will be sharing more details with the Overwatch community in the coming weeks.
“We can’t wait for the 2023 season to start and have been working hard behind the scenes to iron out details,” Miller said.
“We’re hoping to share more with the community in the next couple of weeks and are looking forward to OWL’s sixth season where we expect a full slate of teams from the East and West.”
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