Ukrainian Drones and the #MadeByHousewives Movement: Kyiv Fires Back at Rheinmetall CEO 
CTOC Adds 3,000 Doctors, 500 Hospitals Ahead of Liquidity Push 
OpenAI Pulls the Plug on Sora, Ending $1 Billion Disney Partnership 
NASA's Artemis II Crew Arrives in Florida for Historic Moon Mission 
SoftwareONE Posts 22.5% Revenue Surge in 2025 on Crayon Acquisition 
Star Entertainment Secures $390M Refinancing Deal to Stabilize Operations 
Norma Group Posts Revenue Decline in 2025, Eyes Modest Recovery in 2026 
RBC Capital: European Medtech Firms Show Minimal Middle East and Energy Risk Exposure 
Rubio Directs U.S. Diplomats to Use X and Military Psyops to Counter Foreign Propaganda 
Cybersecurity Stocks Tumble After Anthropic's Claude Mythos AI Leak Sparks Market Fears 
Luxury Car Sales in the Middle East Take a Hit Amid Iran War 
Microsoft Eyes $7B Texas Energy Deal to Power AI Data Centers 
SpaceX Eyes Historic IPO at $1.75 Trillion Valuation 
Annie Altman Amends Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman 
SK Hynix Eyes Up to $14 Billion U.S. IPO to Fund AI Chip Expansion 
Russell 1000 Companies Hit $2.2T Cash Record While Aggressively Reinvesting in Growth 
Makemation: a Nollywood movie that shows AI in action in Africa 
Blizzard Entertainment and Chinese gaming giant NetEase had apparently been working on more video game projects behind the scenes. However, the companies reportedly had disagreements on an unannounced “Warcraft” mobile game leading to its cancellation.
Not to be confused with “Warcraft Arclight Rumble,” Bloomberg reported that the now-canceled project was codenamed Neptune. It was set in the “World of Warcraft” universe, but it was planned to be a spin-off game as it would have featured events that take place in a different timeline.
The same report claimed NetEase dissolved a team with more than 100 developers following Neptune’s cancellation. The canceled project was supposed to be a massively multiplayer online mobile game, suggesting it would have been a very different experience from “Warcraft Arclight Rumble.” The game, which was announced last May, will be a free-to-play action strategy title with collectible Minis.
It is not entirely clear why Blizzard and NetEase ended up canceling the project even though it has been in development for several years. Bloomberg only said the “Warcraft” mobile game was canceled because Blizzard and NetEase had “disagreed over terms” of the Neptune development.
Niko Partners said in a report in May that China makes up one-third of the global mobile gaming market with more than 640 million gamers this year, and it is expected to grow to 679 million gamers by 2026. But China has extremely strict guidelines, including requiring foreign publishers to have Chinese partners so they can sell video games in the country.
Blizzard’s partnership with NetEase is then evidently crucial for the Irvine, California-based publisher. And as the report pointed out, the cancellation of the “Warcraft” mobile game raises questions about the companies’ partnership for other projects.
But it is worth noting that Blizzard and NetEase had been partners long before the now-canceled “Warcraft” mobile game entered development. The latter has been distributing “World of Warcraft” games and expansions in China since 2009. The companies have also partnered for the recently released mobile game “Diablo Immortal,” which became available in China in late July.
Photo by Marco Verch from Flickr licensed under Creative Commons
