[throwaway333444]

Actually you haven’t been able to play WoW in China for a ~year. But that’s largely irrelevant to your point.

More specifically Blizzard is able to bring their product to everywhere else in the world. The fact that they choose to “work” with a local partner in China to get access to that market reads more to me like a government run racket / forced rent seeking than anything else.

> approach China with realistic deals are allowed to operate there

On a more hyperbolic note, I’m sure many people in the past paid off mobsters for the privilege of doing business in certain areas with the rationale they were being “realistic”.

To that end if the US wants to start treating Chinese backed companies a similar way (laws that distort the market) I’m not surprised. China has no moral high ground here. Or more simply your point cuts both ways.

> doesn't mean other countries have to allow it.

[_akhe]

> Actually you haven’t been able to play WoW in China for a ~year

Not true: https://www.wowhead.com/news/over-two-million-players-sign-u...

Their services are literally live right now if they are taking signups.

[throwaway333444]

Today WoW is unavailable in China. The linked article indicates a return to China which AFAIK is not live yet. My statement is true, and the lack of WoW in China for at least a time period will always be true. But as previously mentioned this point isn’t that important. I just found it amusing that the example you used for a company behaving well in China wasn’t even in China at the time.

[_akhe]

> the lack of WoW in China for at least a time period

That's a more fair claim, but both goes without saying (because it's what we're talking about) and is still misleading, because and I'll quote the wowhead-

"World of Warcraft has always been popular in China"

Anyone familiar knows WoW has been available in China for many years (they even have a Blizzard China HQ) and Blizzard has been working with with NetEase for years to service that market.

That's true for a lot of other companies, everything from McDonalds to Ford. It's just social media companies whining.

> just found it amusing that the example you used

Intentionally so but could have easily mentioned GM, Microsoft, Boeing, Nike, KFC, Coke, Procter & Gamble, Intel, or Starbucks with their 7000 stores in China alone. Are you seriously claiming that American companies can't operate there? Do basic research and stop watching the news - some of you really can't be helped.

[throwaway333444]

> That's a more fair claim, but both goes without saying (because it's what we're talking about) and is still misleading

Calling the truth misleading feels pretty 1984 to me but ignoring that for a moment. The truth is that Netease & Blizzard had some sort of disagreement resulting in all Blizzard games being yanked from China. It didn’t matter that Blizzard had a HQ there (which netease live-streamed the destruction of 1) or that they had nearly 2 decades of history of the “good” behavior you mention. At the end of the day Blizzard was forced out as soon as the partnership with the local Chinese company ended. Or in keeping with my hyperbolic scenario as soon as the local “mobsters” stopped getting their cut.

> That's true for a lot of other companies, everything from McDonalds to Ford. It's just social media companies whining.

> Do basic research and stop watching the news

Well let’s see using the first company you listed as an example McDonald’s is a minority partner in their China business 2.

“Last month, the U.S.-based burger maker cut a deal to repurchase the 28% stake in its China business Carlyle Group took in 2017, giving it a 48% share…. One advantage for McDonald’s: its majority partner in the China business, CITIC, provides top-level political cover, … Having a very powerful Chinese state-owned conglomerate as a partner means they are not going to be at the forefront of the geopolitical situation; that is quite important," Yu said.”

> Are you seriously claiming that American companies can't operate there?

That is straw-man & no I’m not.

I suppose at a high level my point is a) Blizzard was allowed there because they paid via the Joint Venutre not because of any “moral” behavior and b) China requires Joint Ventures or other similar arrangements for companies to get access to the China market. For one reason or another China views this as being in China’s best interest. Ok so be it but one shouldn’t be surprised that eventually another country would enact similar laws that it believes are in its own best interest. It just so happens that America is first with Tik Tok being the concern that forced the issue. So now the “reasonable”/legal deal for Tik Tok (& soon others I expect) will be different. As I said before there is no moral high ground here, just basic game theory.

> some of you really can't be helped

While this is probably not over the line. It’s best to try and refrain from personal attacks or anything approaching it. We just happen to have differing opinions on this topic and that’s ok. In fact we may learn something by discussing, otherwise what’s the point of commenting?

Sources 1: https://gamerant.com/netease-livestreams-destruction-chinese... 2: https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/lovin-it-mc...