NetEase nails deal to market Blizzard titles on mainland

Licensing accord to further drive games provider's growth

Mainland internet games provider NetEase.com has secured a deal with Blizzard Entertainment of the United States to distribute some of its major titles in the domestic market, following its failure to develop a hit video game since 2004.

NetEase last week forged a three-year licencing agreement with Blizzard on the US game developer's latest title StarCraft II, older hits Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and the Battle.net platform used to provide online multiplayer services for these games.

Blizzard, which created World of Warcraft, the best-selling game for Windows-based personal computers in 2005 and 2006 and the world's No1 massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) with 10 million users as of January this year, also formed a joint venture with NetEase called Shanghai EaseNet Network Technology to support its operations on the mainland.

'We hope to combine Blizzard's expertise in developing world-class games with NetEase's strength in online games operation in China to bring the best gaming experience to our players,' said William Ding Lei, chief executive of NetEase.

The financial terms and domestic launch dates of the Blizzard-owned video games were not disclosed.