Earlier this week, the media reported that NetEase decided to sue Blizzard Entertainment over the closure of games in China and filed a lawsuit for $43.5 million. Now it turned out that the author of the claim is not NetEase, but a disgruntled Chinese gamer.

The conflict between NetEase and Blizzard Entertainment continues to develop. According to Sina Technology, the Chinese company filed a lawsuit against Blizzard and demanded to pay her ¥300 million or about $ 43.5 million.

The shelf of studios founded by former Blizzard Entertainment employees has arrived. The former president of the company, J. Allen Brack, together with Jennifer Oneal and John Donham, announced the launch of the Magic Soup Games studio.

Gas Giant Games is a new studio opened by former Blizzard Entertainment employees. One of its founders was Jay Wilson, who at one time led the work on Diablo III.

Several Blizzard Entertainment employees anonymously told the Game Developer portal how the last working meeting organized by Mike Ybarra took place. In short: not very good.

There are rumors in Chinese social networks that Blizzard Entertainment has chosen a publisher who will operate its games in China. If you believe them, then in April Zhejiang Century Huatong, a group of companies that publishes Final Fantasy XIV and Dungeons & Dragons Online in China, will become a new partner of the developer.

On January 17, Blizzard Entertainment announced that it had asked NetEase to temporarily extend the partnership, but was refused. Soon, the Chinese company issued a response statement in which it criticized the terms of the deal and the developers themselves.

Blizzard Entertainment wrote on Weibo that it tried to extend the agreement with NetEase for another six months, but without success.

Blizzard Entertainment may soon name a new company that will publish its games in China instead of NetEase. According to Chinese insider and esports player Lao Dao (老刀舅舅), now the developer is choosing between two publishers.

Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment, spoke about the results of 2022 for his company.

Blizzard was joined by one of its veterans. Chris Metzen, who left the company in 2016, became a creative consultant for Warcraft.

In April 2022, an eight-month freeze on the issuance of gaming licenses was completed in China. Despite this, foreign developers still cannot get permission to release projects in China.

The head of the NetEase partnership department, Simon Zhu, wrote on LinkedIn that he spent ten thousand hours in Warcraft, Starcraft and Overwatch and is now “heartbroken” because of the closure of games in China. He also spoke sharply about the people who made the decision:

Blizzard Entertainment‘s agreement with NetEase to publish almost all of the company’s games in China expires next year. Blizzard has already started looking for a new partner, but warned that from January 23, the games will temporarily stop working in the country.

Activision Blizzard may face difficulties selling games in China. In the financial report, she mentioned that in January 2023, the license agreement for the publication of some Blizzard games expires. The company is negotiating an extension of the deal, but is not sure that it will be possible to reach an agreement.

The new specialist will be responsible for creating a “diverse, inclusive and fairer work environment,” Blizzard Entertainment said in a statement. Apparently, in this way the company wants to try to improve its reputation, which has suffered amid a series of scandals in Activision Blizzard.

The meeting of Bobby Kotick with employees, the official position on the future of the Call of Duty series on PlayStation, the fear of mass layoffs and the chances of the revival of old franchises. We tell you the main thing about all the latest news related to the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard deal.

The treasuries of six American states expressed concern about the situation around Activision Blizzard. Since they own part of the company’s shares, they demand to arrange a meeting with the publisher’s board. The main goal of the negotiations is to prevent the re—election of Bobby Kotick and other members of the board of directors.For the first time, the treasurers of California, Massachusetts, Illinois, Oregon, Nevada and Delaware asked for a meeting with the board of…

Activision Blizzard has faced criticism from another platform holder. Doug Bowser, president of Nintendo of America, called the harassment situation disappointing. He also stated that Nintendo has already taken some action against Activision.Doug Bowser