(Yicai) Feb. 24 -- The restored partnership between American video game developer Blizzard Entertainment and its Chinese publishing partner NetEase is granting more decision-making authority to the Asian company, Yicai learned during the Blizzard president's first visit to China.

Blizzard's review process has become more streamlined, and its California headquarters has grown more receptive to its Chinese partner, the Hangzhou-based entertainment company told Yicai.

Johanna Faries recently visited China to mark her one-year anniversary as president of the owner of game brands World of Warcraft and Diablo. The trip primarily focused on maintaining partnerships and engaging with regional employees, she told Yicai.

The companies resumed their partnership in April 2024, aiming to bring Blizzard titles in the Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft universes back to China after separating in late 2022 due to failed contract negotiations. Since renewing ties, they have launched World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Overwatch in China.

NetEase now enjoys greater autonomy compared to the previous partnership, enabling a more collaborative approach to project development, Wei Kai, project leader for Blizzard games at a NetEase unit, told Yicai in an interview about Overwatch's return to the Chinese market. The partnership may introduce modifications or new content specifically for Chinese users, including unique skins reflecting Chinese culture and Chinese legends, Wei said.

"Blizzard's team recognizes that Chinese players have different preferences from Western players," Wei said, adding that it is crucial for the local operations team to communicate more ideas to the development team to help them understand Chinese players' needs. "This has strengthened our partnership."

Chinese players have not forgotten about Blizzard. The daily active users of strategy card game Hearthstone almost tripled in the third quarter of last year compared to the same period in 2022, while World of Warcraft experienced a 50 percent increase, according to NetEase's financial report.

Blizzard is expanding its local presence. The company's official website lists four open positions in Shanghai: a game producer for Diablo Immortal, a visual effects artist for World of Warcraft, a chief outsourcing officer, and an artificial intelligence deployment/machine translation specialist.

Editor: Emmi Laine