WoW China Update from Warcraft General Manager John Hight

Posted 2022/12/12 at 10:55 PM by Archimtiros

released a statement to Chinese playersupcoming shutdown of Blizzard games services in China

John Hight

Hello, World of Warcraft CN players:

I hope you've all started exploring the Dragon Islands with your friends. Since my last video was posted, you've all been interested in what we're doing to bring World of Warcraft back to you after January 23rd. In addition, we know you also want to make sure that your current in-game characters, progress and items will still be with you on your future adventures in Azeroth.

We are currently in conversations with a number of new potential distribution partners in China and this process will continue until we find a suitable solution. At the same time, we know how important your progress in World of Warcraft is to you. So I'd like to share the news that the World of Warcraft team is working hard to develop a feature that will allow you to save your characters, items, and progress in Azeroth to your personal devices before the game goes out of service on January 23rd.

I would like to reiterate that this feature is in addition to the "Sealed information" mentioned in NetEase's previous announcement. We expect that the transition to the new partner for the World of Warcraft CN service will go smoothly. Also, with this feature, everyone will be able to keep their game history and memory in their own hands.

We're working with NetEase to finalize the plan and will release more details on how you can save your game progress in January. We know you'll have many questions about this feature and when you'll be able to return to Azeroth. Stay tuned and we'll share more developments in the future.
Let's get back in touch in January!

John Hight
General Manager, Warcraft Productions

12 3

Comment by morgath99guys with 10000000000000000000000 gold and every achievement snd !@#$ like that incomingComment by SingledogeIMO Blizzard is trying to avoid legal regulations by potentially asking players to "voluntarily" transfer their own gaming data abroad (to Asia or World Server, probably).Comment by Bushy85Yeah imagine having sunk 15 years into a character and then it's gone in a blink. Feel sorry for our Chinese friends.Comment by Neo1103IMO Blizzard is trying to avoid legal regulations by potentially asking players to "voluntarily" transfer their own gaming data abroad (to Asia or World Server, probably).Comment by skairipaYeah imagine having sunk 15 years into a character and then it's gone in a blink. Feel sorry for our Chinese friends.Comment by cokeboyswagYeah imagine having sunk 15 years into a character and then it's gone in a blink. Feel sorry for our Chinese friends.Comment by Somanychickensguys with 10000000000000000000000 gold and every achievement snd !@#$ like that incomingComment by JahxdFeel so damn bad for those guys. Only play classic these days but I'd be devastated if I lost all the achievements and collectables I've gathered on live over the last 14ish yearsComment by Tolian64LF Cryptography expert.Comment by TwistedMetalYeah imagine having sunk 15 years into a character and then it's gone in a blink. Feel sorry for our Chinese friends.Comment by TwistedMetalFeel so damn bad for those guys. Only play classic these days but I'd be devastated if I lost all the achievements and collectables I've gathered on live over the last 14ish yearsComment by MoarHeroismsIf I had to back-up 20 years of game progress to my phone I'd be too scared to drop it and lock it away in Fort Knox.Comment by SundercatYeah imagine having sunk 15 years into a character and then it's gone in a blink. Feel sorry for our Chinese friends.Comment by SundercatReally tired of some WoWHead user talk about nonsense politics in the commentsComment by addictedtopixelsThe end will come for all of us eventually. All of our progress will be gone in an instant, but they're just pixels and very dispensable.Comment by theaceofhearts36Far as I'm aware none of the western players have a massively oppressive communist government telling them they're not allowed to play without some state approved intermediaryReally tired of some WoWHead user talk about nonsense politics in the commentsComment by 8BitBruceFrom a tech standpoint, they will likely generate hash values against each file and then store the hash values so upon restoration, if the values don't match exactly then the likelihood is that the data will have been tampered with. Standard IT procedures with a little bit of enforcement over the top.Comment by tetraxionmonMay God and the Universe find a suitable way to allow Chinese people to play World Of Warcraft again. They deserve to play as much as us on the other side of the globe deserve to play. We are all one blood. Brothers and sisters.Comment by ZeroxarYeah imagine having sunk 15 years into a character and then it's gone in a blink. Feel sorry for our Chinese friends.Comment by FoederisIf anyone has heard of hashing, then you would understand it will prevent manipulation of the account. Blizzard will store respective hashes on their server and compare it with the accounts if service is restored. A hash is a unique string of characters that if any modification whatsoever occurs to the contents of the hashed file, it will drastically change the hash code and not line up with the one stored on blizzard servers.

12 3