The deal extends Blizzard’s relationship with NetEase as the companies currently collaborate on other games, such as Starcraft 2.
Blizzard launched World of Warcraft in 2007, using The9 as its exclusive operator. According to reports, within one month, the game had more than 1.5 million players in the market.
Reports add that World of Warcraft’s population peaked in February of this year, when one million concurrent gamers were found to be simultaneously playing.