World of Warcraft mobile MMO reportedly canceled after three years in development

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A report suggests that NetEase and Blizzard disagreed on terms

World of Warcraft
(Image credit: Blizzard)

An unannounced mobile World of Warcraft spin-off in development at NetEase has been canceled after three years in development, according to a new report.

According to Bloomberg, the project was codenamed Neptune and was set to be an original MMO set in the Warcraft universe. "It wouldn’t be a direct translation of the popular online game but a spinoff, set during a different time period," according to the report.

The game had reportedly been in development for three years, and its cancellation has been said to affect a team of 100 developers, only some of whom will be able to transfer within the company. Bloomberg says that Blizzard and NetEase "disagreed over terms and ultimately called a halt to the project." Representatives of Blizzard and NetEase did not provide comment on the report.

Blizzard and NetEase had previously released Diablo Immortal, which garnered millions of downloads and earned millions of dollars after its launch earlier this year, despite controversy over the game's microtransactions. The game's launch in China was postponed just a few days before it was planned to take place.

Dustin Bailey
Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.