Netease and “Blizzard” broke up: “Dianka” is in appreciation and “equipment” is sold off

Original title: Netease and Blizzard “break up”: “World of Warcraft” “point card” is appreciating, “equipment” is being sold

News from IT House on December 5th, a few days ago, NetEase and Blizzard jointly announced that they will terminate the service of many well-known Blizzard games such as “World of Warcraft” and “Hearthstone” in mainland China from January 24, 2023.

According to the Beijing Youth Daily, the “World of Warcraft” “point card” has stopped recharging, and the price on the second-hand market continues to rise. The original price of 360 yuan points card now needs to be purchased for 500 yuan. In contrast, currently on the “World of Warcraft” trading platform, the price of virtual gold coins in the game continues to drop, and players are selling gold coins and other equipment on the second-hand platform at the lowest price in three years.

IT Home has learned that the NetEase team has stated that starting from 0:00 on January 24, 2023, the online game virtual currency that has been recharged but not consumed by the player in the game and the game time (if any) that has been paid for and has not expired , refunds will be arranged after the operation of Blizzard game products ceases. For details, please pay attention to and bind the official account of “Blizzard Game Service Center”. As for the physical card, the Netease Blizzard game customer service team once said: “For the physical point card, it is recommended that you contact the dealer where you purchased it. We have reached an agreement with the dealer and will refund the dealer uniformly, and the dealer will carry out subsequent refunds. deal with.”

Some lawyers said that the “Civil Code” stipulates that if the law stipulates the protection of data and network virtual property, follow its provisions. However, so far, no law has been enacted to clearly define the scope of virtual property. Therefore, whether game accounts or game equipment are virtual property has not yet been clarified through legislation. In practice, online game companies usually stipulate through user agreements that players only have the right to use but not ownership of game accounts or game equipment.