Activision Blizzard Moving Even Closer to China
Battle.net World Championship set for Shanghai.
Blizzard has announced that its Battle.net World Championship will be held in Shanghai, China on Saturday November 17 and Sunday November 18, 2012.
Now for some context - Activision/Blizzard has been working with Chinese telecommunications firm Tencent Holdings (which now also owns a percentage of Epic Games) to create a Call of Duty Online free-to-play game. And owner Vivendi is struggling to sell the two companies off. Nobody will have them.
What exactly does this mean? While we wouldn't want to try and foresee the future (that's Michael Pachter's job), it does appear clearer by the day that Activision and Blizzard are increasing their reliance on Chinese interests. Similarly, Chinese technology companies are slowly becoming more and more acquainted with some of the biggest names in Western game development.
Blizzard will be co-hosting the Battle.net World Championship with domestic partner NetEase, Inc. The event will "bring to a riveting conclusion Blizzard's 2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series, which comprises more than 30 national and continental tournaments around the world, and the World of Warcraft Arena global finals." That's according to the press release.
Opportunities to meet the world's most professional players, merchandise and special attractions will also be present at the event, along with hands-on play time with some of Blizzard's latest games.
Now for some context - Activision/Blizzard has been working with Chinese telecommunications firm Tencent Holdings (which now also owns a percentage of Epic Games) to create a Call of Duty Online free-to-play game. And owner Vivendi is struggling to sell the two companies off. Nobody will have them.
What exactly does this mean? While we wouldn't want to try and foresee the future (that's Michael Pachter's job), it does appear clearer by the day that Activision and Blizzard are increasing their reliance on Chinese interests. Similarly, Chinese technology companies are slowly becoming more and more acquainted with some of the biggest names in Western game development.
Blizzard will be co-hosting the Battle.net World Championship with domestic partner NetEase, Inc. The event will "bring to a riveting conclusion Blizzard's 2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series, which comprises more than 30 national and continental tournaments around the world, and the World of Warcraft Arena global finals." That's according to the press release.
Opportunities to meet the world's most professional players, merchandise and special attractions will also be present at the event, along with hands-on play time with some of Blizzard's latest games.
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