Blizzard says it's searching for a "suitable solution" to keep World of Warcraft alive in China

(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard is searching for a "suitable solution" to keep the MMO alive in China.

Last month, Blizzard announced its shutting down services for World of Warcraft and other titles in China early next year after the developer failed to reach a new licensing agreement with NetEase. But this might not be the end of the road for Warcraft in the county as the company has revealed it's currently in talks with potential new partners so it can continue to offer the game to players.

"We are currently in conversations with several new potential distribution partners in China, and this process will continue until we find a suitable solution," Warcraft franchise General Manager John Hight says in a statement posted to the Chinese microblogging website Weibo (thanks, Wowhead).

As well as keeping the game alive, the company is working on a way for fans to keep the progress they have made in the MMORPG so far, which will seemingly work by having players store their own game data on their computers and phones.

"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 23," explains Hight.

Although another distribution partner has yet to be found, Blizzard appears confident that an agreement will be reached and that the transition "will go smoothly". Hight says the company is now working with NetEase to finalise plans for transferring players' game progress and promised to share more details in January. While nothing is certain yet, it's promising news for Chinese fans who would otherwise soon be bidding farewell to Azeroth for good.

While World of Warcraft could potentially be saved, there's currently no word on whether Blizzard is also searching for partners for its other series, including Diablo and Overwatch.

Pass the time until Diablo 4 with our handy guide to games like Diablo.

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Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.