Blizzard and NetEase’s World of Warcraft mobile game project has been canceled

The article stated that the cancellation of the project led to the disbandment of a team of 100 employees at NetEase, only a few of these people were transferred to other positions in the company. The cancellation of this potential project seems to stem from a disagreement between Blizzard and NetEase on financial terms. Some people who worked on the project said that this MMORPG has a codename of Neptune and is set in the same universe as WoW but focus on a different time period.
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NetEase is the publisher World of Warcraft along with other Blizzard titles in China and is the co-creator of mobile game Diablo Immortal. This is not the only game project based on Warcraft to be canceled. According to Bloomberg, another project is an AR game similar to Pokemon Go with the codename Orbis that was in development for more than four years before being closed.

Back in 2022, Activision Blizzard announced plans to bring the Warcraft franchise to mobile. Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said the company is working on “multiple free Warcraft experiences on mobile” and the titles are in advanced development. Mr. Kotick said the games will provide an opportunity for existing and new players to experience the Warcraft universe in ways never before seen. One of them is the Warcraft Arclight Rumble, where players assemble armies from characters from the Warcraft universe and go on a variety of quests.
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Warcraft Arclight Rumble will offer a single-player experience with over 70 missions, as well as weekly and monthly challenges in the form of multiple levels of dungeons, raids and more. Players can play with other players in competitive or co-op mode and join guilds.
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