Blizzard Entertainment has announced that they will be suspending game services in China on January 23, 2023.

The reason for this massive cutoff is due to an expiring licensing agreement with Netease, who handle Chinese versions of their titles such as Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Starcraft.

Their agreement had been around since 2008 and according to Blizzard Entertainment, they have been unable to come to a deal with renewing the agreement which is satisfactory for both companies.

As a result they have chosen to allow the formal agreement to expire on the January date, and sales for their games in the region will be suspended in the coming days.

They state that will be informing their customers in China on how these details will work, though it seems upcoming releases such as World of Warcraft: Dragonflight and season 2 of Overwatch 2 will continue to proceed later this year.

While it is possible the companies will be able to come to an agreement, this separation appears to be permanent as they are “looking for alternatives” to bring their games to players in the region.