NetEase Lays Off Hundreds Of Employees Handling Blizzard Games In China

NetEase has laid off nearly a hundred employees of its affiliate Shanghai EaseNet Network Technology following disagreements with Blizzard Entertainment that led to the end of its publishing partnership with the American video game company in the country.

According to The South China Morning Post (via Kotaku), the Chinese tech giant recently disbanded the team handling Blizzard games at the affiliate company and laid off most of the team’s members. The rest were transferred to other existing teams in the company. Around 10 members of the team have also been retained to oversee the process of ending support for the affected games although the job is expected to last for only six months.

Fortunately, most of the team’s members decided to jump ship as early as November when it became clear that NetEase and Blizzard weren’t planning on extending their licensing deal. Subsequently, the Chinese versions of World of Warcraft, Warcraft 3: Reforged, Overwatch 2, Diablo 3, and the Starcraft series will soon be taken offline. Diablo Immortal, however, will remain operational in the country as its covered by a separate licensing agreement.