So, you can see the issue with the vague post. In China (and around the world), some people use the character of Winnie the Pooh to mock China’s Present. The post (from Blizzard’s official account) vaguely referenced President Xi Jinping, asking “Why has the Pooh not stepped down?” NetEase stated the team wanted to make “multiple optimisation adjustments.”Īdditionally, a Blizzard employee posted an anti-Chinese post on Weibo, China’s go-to social network. While details are murky, it seems like the perfect storm of issues were the cause. The game was just days away from releasing in China when it was suddenly pulled and delayed. The Chinese version of Diablo Immortal is not releasing at its expected time. The studio, which is based in Taiwan, later started selling a DRM-free version of Devotion on its own storefront.Diablo Immortal has had a rough go of it and now, it’s about to get worse for Blizzard and NetEase. Publisher Indievent lost its license to sell Devotion in China, leading it to cut ties with developer Red Candle Games, which included a blatant dig at Xi in the game itself. It's not the first time a game developer has run into issues with Chinese regulators over a Winnie the Pooh reference. Engadget has contacted Blizzard for comment. NetEase declined to comment to the Financial Times. China is the biggest gaming market on the planet and not being able to release Diablo Immortal there would likely have a severe impact on the game's expected revenues. According to reports, it raked in $24 million in two weeks as a result of its aggressive approach to monetization. The PC and mobile title debuted in other territories this month. It promised players an "exclusive thank-you package containing legendary equipment" as a makegood for the delay. Discussions related to the post were also wiped from the service.Ĭurrently, Diablo Immortal does not have a release date in China, though NetEase still expects to ship the game in the country. In the wake of a screenshot of the post (which read "why hasn't the bear stepped down?") gaining traction, the official Diablo Immortal Weibo account was banned from posting anything.
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