Each month, sports digital agency\u00a0Mailman<\/a>\u00a0shares the biggest industry news and insights from China\u2019s esports scene, along with analysis on why it matters.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n
For Chinese fans of Blizzard titles, it was a tough end to November. Activision Blizzard ended its 14-year partnership with Chinese game publisher NetEase<\/a>, meaning that \u2014 at present \u2014 Chinese players will not be able to play Blizzard games from January 23rd.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
Meanwhile, former Chinese president Jiang Zemin passed away on November 30 at 96 years old; multiple esports and gaming companies suspended their events to mourn him, including the LPL All-Star.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
China\u2019s League of Legends esports operator announced it would suspend its League of Legends Pro League (LPL) All-Star events \u201cin response to the relevant notice.\u201d The notice came from the former Chinese president Jiang Zemin passing away, and the whole country shut down their entertainment services, including gaming and gaming-related live streaming, for a whole day on December 6.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
The LPL All-Star was the industry’s first esports event to respond to Jiang\u2019s passing. Jiang was also the former Mayor of Shanghai City, the centre of China’s esports industry. During his term following president Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, resources and international games started to be imported to Chinese families.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
On November 17th, game publisher Activision Blizzard and China\u2019s second-largest game publisher NetEase ended their long-running partnership. All of Blizzard\u2019s major titles, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Warcraft III: Reforged, Overwatch, StarCraft II, and Heroes of Storm will be suspended by midnight on January 24. Activision Blizzard announced that it is seeking alternative partners in China; Tencent, Perfect World, Bilibili, and ByteDance could be the potential options. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n