Diablo III Welcomes Chinese Heroes to Sanctuary
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and NetEase, Inc. have jointly announced an agreement to license Blizzard Entertainment's award-winning action role-playing game Diablo III to a NetEase, Inc. affiliate in mainland China. This is the fifth Blizzard game series that the two companies are bringing to mainland China, following StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, and Heroes of the Storm.
Diablo III continues the epic Diablo storyline, with players going on a heroic journey to save the world of Sanctuary from the corrupting forces of the Burning Hells. As players adventure through rich and varied settings, they’ll engage in pulse-pounding combat with hordes of monsters and challenging bosses, grow in experience and ability, and acquire artifacts of incredible power.
“We’re excited to be able to welcome the many passionate gamers in mainland China to Sanctuary,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We appreciate all the support Chinese gamers have shown us over the years and hope they have a great time playing Diablo III.”
“We’re very excited that with our effort, all five of Blizzard Entertainment’s game series will be delivered to Chinese players,” said William Ding, CEO and founder of NetEase, Inc. “We’ll continue to work closely with Blizzard to prepare for a smooth Diablo III launch in China so that local gamers can start playing this epic adventure as soon as possible.”
Diablo III became the fastest-selling PC game of all time globally when it was first released in 2012, selling through more than 3.5 million copies as of its first 24 hours of availability and growing to more than 6.3 million copies as of its first week. Since then, the game has gone on to sell through more than 15 million copies across all platforms. With Chinese players on the verge of storming through Sanctuary, the forces of evil are in store for a whole new round of retribution.
More details about the Diablo III launch in China, such as pricing and platform specifics, will be announced at a later date.
