Blizzard to bring more key properties to China
While a deal with AMD will see its games bundled with ATI graphics cards
Blizzard Entertainment has announced an agreement to license StarCraft II, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and its multiplayer platform Battle.net, to Shanghai EaseNet, an affiliated company of NetEase.
Under the three year licensing deal, Blizzard's RTS games will not only be distributed in China but will be accompanied by a fully supported Battle.net for online play.
"NetEase has been a leader in the Chinese game market, and we look forward to working with them to deliver high-quality entertainment to Chinese gamers," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "This partnership is a sign of our continued commitment to our players in China and to the local industry."
The Blizzard RTS brand is strong in Asia with a superb reach in Korea, while World of Warcraft has already launched in China.
It was further announced that Blizzard has entered a deal with AMD, which will see its games bundled with all ATI Radeon products - although the specific titles the deal pertains to have yet to be named.
"Blizzard Entertainment is responsible for the hottest titles in PC gaming and AMD is excited to be working closely with one of the top development teams in the industry to deliver exceptional gaming experiences for players around the world," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products, AMD.
"Gamers have a variety of choices when it comes to graphics cards, and those who choose ATI Radeon solutions can be confident their purchase will give them the visually rich, high-performance experience they expect."