Instead of quietly and respectfully ending a 14-year-long partnership with Blizzard Entertainment, NetEase decidedly burned the bridge and demolished a Blizzard statue on Jan. 18.<\/p>
After a fruitless hunt for a new provider, and futile efforts to strike a bargain with NetEase to extend their existing agreement and once again strike a deal with the Chinese provider, Blizzard published an official statement noting the incoming shutdown of the company\u2019s services within the borders of China.<\/a> As a response to Blizzard\u2019s official statement, NetEase demolished Blizzard\u2019s iconic orc statue on a stream<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>
As the final nail in the Blizzard-NetEase collaboration, besides this clear statement that Blizzard is no longer welcome in China by NetEase, the Chinese company produced a new drink named Blizzard Green Tea. According to Wowhead<\/a>, green tea is the modern-day slur for \u201ca manipulative person who tries to appear wholesome, innocent, or traditional, but is decidedly not so.\u201d<\/p>
The act of tearing down the symbol of World of Warcraft<\/em> was watched by around 30,000 people and since then has spread across Chinese social media. NetEase explained<\/a> Blizzard has recently asked NetEase for a six-month extension while being in negotiations with other service-providing companies for a three-year-long deal. Aside from that, NetEase emphasized it never attempted to control Blizzard IP and all actions were authorized.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
