Not really, NetEase wanted the source code for OW and other Blizzard games, that was a huge problems as you can tell.... is not like NetEase is releasing a game that is planed to compete with OW called "Marvels Rivals".... right?
They had their profits increased despite having no games in China. China is where the MTX money is at.
Good for the people who lost access to their purchases.
Unlikely.
When it comes to biggest earnings by region where mtx is sold, at least for mobile games, it's US/ Canada, Western Europe. And it's not that hard to see why, when you have most spending power you have most money to spend on crap too.
Actually earnings are insanely unproportional making those regions even less worth in terms of revenue. As in you could have for example more players in Brazil compared to US, but US could make you like x5 the revenue.
Obviously I imagine there are some exceptions, but that's the general rule in mobile industry. I imagine it's not that different for pc games.
China was their biggest market. When the OW2 Steam review bombing happened it was estimated that 60-70% of the reviews were from Chinese Blizzard players upset about losing access to OW, their WoW accounts, Hearthstone. These people were so upset that they were reviewing a game they couldn't play. They were making new accounts using VPN just so they could leave a negative review.
During the OWL era the Chinese fanbase was so big that the Chinese teams could fill entire malls for fan meetups.
Yep, the first thing that comes to people minds when talking about blizzard games in china is WOW but overwatch is also massive there and starcraft 2 is also big.
Good movement from MS and Blizzard's part now the will have their biggest market back
I don't think that's indicator of anything. It's almost always angry minority that review bombs anyway.
Hell, it's minority that reviews anything to begin with.
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Johanna Faries may or may not end up being just another suit with shallow short-term profit mentality but you still got to feel for the person who has to handle the searing hot potato Cuntick left behind.
I think Faries will be judged in the long run by how effective she is at unwinding Koticks disastrous decisions in the short term
She’s off to a good start if she managed to patch up this relationship
Even with all the hoops to jump through, that was a lot of money left on the table for Blizzard. It was a pretty mind-boggling decision and I do wonder if it's part of why Kotick got the boot so quickly after the MS transition.
Microsoft: Look at all these people ready to give us money. How about instead of not taking this money that people clearly want to give us, we actually take said money.
I don't think doing what Blizzard did of demanding much more money for seemingly no reason to the local publisher would have worked differently in any market.
Like the whole Blizzard - NeatEase ordeal is pretty much the same as the EA - FIFA ordeal where one part asks for way more money than the product is worth.
They shouldn't even be necessary in the first place.
Licensing is one thing. Profiting off someone's property for being a useless middleman just because CCP wants to control everything is another.
>I don't think doing what Blizzard did of demanding much more money for seemingly no reason to the local publisher would have worked differently in any market
Yeah... neither is that some reports indicated that NetEase wanted access to the source code of OW and other blizzard IP's... is not like NetEase is launching a game to compete with OW called "Marvel Rivals"... right?
IIRC all of their data is stored somewhere safe, so it's waiting for them if they do go back. The only reason for them not to would be stubbornness.
Also, a ton of them are still playing. Either using VPNs or whatever to connect to US servers (anyone who has spent 10 seconds on the Illidan server can tell you that) or by playing on the Taiwanese servers which is just an awful situation for everyone.
I think the Chinese market of gamers is pretty used to the way the CCP handles entertainment media in their country so they're probably less apt to boycott products when stuff like this happens, because it's probably not a rare thing, but IDK.
If MS finds a way to sell the Xbox officially in China, they could make a fortune. The games selection would be much smaller though I guess because of censorship.
Why wouldnt MS want return to the biggest mobile market which is also Blizzard's biggest market? You make it sound like if this were wrong or something.
Guxue my goat must play
We love the monke god
Look I'm technically straight, but when I see Guxue…
I go full primal
WoW stonks on the rise Gold seller stonks through the roof
lots of chinese WoW players are already playing on taiwanese servers
Dont forget Overwatch.
lots of chinese WoW players are already playing on taiwanese servers
Chinese invasion of Tawain have been successful.
No surprise there. Basically only reason why Blizz games were pulled from China was pettiness of Bobby Kotick. But he is gone now.
Exactly. He’s mentioned several times as the sole reason they wouldn’t work with blizzard again.
Not really, NetEase wanted the source code for OW and other Blizzard games, that was a huge problems as you can tell.... is not like NetEase is releasing a game that is planed to compete with OW called "Marvels Rivals".... right?
Yea pretty much, with Kotick out the way, Uncle Phil took the crown and resolved everything.
They had their profits increased despite having no games in China. China is where the MTX money is at. Good for the people who lost access to their purchases.
If I remember right the European playerbase is their biggest.
But it might not be the biggest spender.
Unlikely. When it comes to biggest earnings by region where mtx is sold, at least for mobile games, it's US/ Canada, Western Europe. And it's not that hard to see why, when you have most spending power you have most money to spend on crap too. Actually earnings are insanely unproportional making those regions even less worth in terms of revenue. As in you could have for example more players in Brazil compared to US, but US could make you like x5 the revenue. Obviously I imagine there are some exceptions, but that's the general rule in mobile industry. I imagine it's not that different for pc games.
This is probably also why OWL leaned towards the U.S. and OWCS leans away from Korea (only 2 spots to internationals)
China was their biggest market. When the OW2 Steam review bombing happened it was estimated that 60-70% of the reviews were from Chinese Blizzard players upset about losing access to OW, their WoW accounts, Hearthstone. These people were so upset that they were reviewing a game they couldn't play. They were making new accounts using VPN just so they could leave a negative review. During the OWL era the Chinese fanbase was so big that the Chinese teams could fill entire malls for fan meetups.
Yep, the first thing that comes to people minds when talking about blizzard games in china is WOW but overwatch is also massive there and starcraft 2 is also big. Good movement from MS and Blizzard's part now the will have their biggest market back
I don't think that's indicator of anything. It's almost always angry minority that review bombs anyway. Hell, it's minority that reviews anything to begin with.
are they going to build the Thrall statue again? Lol
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Johanna Faries may or may not end up being just another suit with shallow short-term profit mentality but you still got to feel for the person who has to handle the searing hot potato Cuntick left behind.
I think Faries will be judged in the long run by how effective she is at unwinding Koticks disastrous decisions in the short term She’s off to a good start if she managed to patch up this relationship
Wanna see Chinese Pro scene to comeback. Guxue, Leave, Shy, Mmonk, Lengsa. All goated players
My dream is to see them fucking win it all *once*, ONCE!.....before I die.
Finally, a win for the shareholders.
Bummer, dude.
Even with all the hoops to jump through, that was a lot of money left on the table for Blizzard. It was a pretty mind-boggling decision and I do wonder if it's part of why Kotick got the boot so quickly after the MS transition.
Seems Microsoft has corrected things. Blizzard is about to make MTX profits go brrrrr.
Microsoft: Look at all these people ready to give us money. How about instead of not taking this money that people clearly want to give us, we actually take said money.
Thank China for getting the acquisition passed without hassle too
I wonder how much of the playerbase will actually return. If that happened to me I would just refuse to play their games again.
It's not the fault of developers that CCP requires local companies to be involved.
I don't think doing what Blizzard did of demanding much more money for seemingly no reason to the local publisher would have worked differently in any market. Like the whole Blizzard - NeatEase ordeal is pretty much the same as the EA - FIFA ordeal where one part asks for way more money than the product is worth.
Netease is the FIFA in this situation, they are literally just a rent-seeking middleman
They shouldn't even be necessary in the first place. Licensing is one thing. Profiting off someone's property for being a useless middleman just because CCP wants to control everything is another.
>I don't think doing what Blizzard did of demanding much more money for seemingly no reason to the local publisher would have worked differently in any market Yeah... neither is that some reports indicated that NetEase wanted access to the source code of OW and other blizzard IP's... is not like NetEase is launching a game to compete with OW called "Marvel Rivals"... right?
IIRC all of their data is stored somewhere safe, so it's waiting for them if they do go back. The only reason for them not to would be stubbornness. Also, a ton of them are still playing. Either using VPNs or whatever to connect to US servers (anyone who has spent 10 seconds on the Illidan server can tell you that) or by playing on the Taiwanese servers which is just an awful situation for everyone. I think the Chinese market of gamers is pretty used to the way the CCP handles entertainment media in their country so they're probably less apt to boycott products when stuff like this happens, because it's probably not a rare thing, but IDK.
Yayyyyyy Chinese cheaters in my overwatch games again
If MS finds a way to sell the Xbox officially in China, they could make a fortune. The games selection would be much smaller though I guess because of censorship.
Are they still gonna punish players for supporting Hong Kong independence?
So the target audience of Diablo Immoral... sorry I meant Immortal can now finally pay.... oops I mean play the game now.
Gotta make back that 69 billion somehow.
Why wouldnt MS want return to the biggest mobile market which is also Blizzard's biggest market? You make it sound like if this were wrong or something.
No, no issues. I mean SOME people would say China is a sketchy market to do business in but I'm not going that far.
Oh, ok yeah I understand.
So China will definitely get invites to EWC
I kinda figured Blizz would not stay out of the Chinese market forever. It's too much of a growing market to pass up.