14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Blizzard announces that it has entered into an agreement with NetEase which will see its Diablo 3 action role-playing experience get an official launch on the Chinese market at some yet undetermined time in the future.
The title has been offered on the PC on Western markets since 2012 and has also received an expansion called Reaper of Souls recently. A version was also launched for Taiwan, which has a separate commercial regime from the mainland.
All video games launched in China need to get official approval from the Ministry of Culture, which is tasked by the Communist Party to make sure that no content gets through if it can be seen as offensive or if it can influence the development of children.
Copies of Diablo 3 have been available in the country via a gray market, but the fact that an official version will be launched means that more Chinese gamers will have access to the full experience associated with it.
William Ding, the founder of NetEase, is quoted by Gamasutra as saying that “We're very excited that with our effort, all five of Blizzard Entertainment's game series will be delivered to Chinese players.”
The company is already working with Blizzard to operate Starcraft II, World of Warcraft and Hearthstone for the Chinese market.
The two entities are also cooperating in order to make sure that the upcoming Multiplayer Online Battle Arena title Heroes of the Storm will be launched in China at the same time that the full version is made available in North America and in Europe.
It’s yet unclear what kind of changes NetEase and Blizzard will need to make to Diablo 3 in order to launch it in China and whether the Reaper of Souls expansion will be part of the package.
The title will probably only be offered on the PC initially, but console versions are also possible.
At the moment, both Sony and Microsoft are working with Chinese partners and with the authorities to launch their next-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on the Chinese market, but no dates or prices have yet been officially announced.
Diablo 3 will arrive on the two platforms for the first time in August and will include all the content that is currently offered on the PC and a new set of mechanics that encourage players to engage in cooperative split-screen gameplay.