. 16 hours ago
The Chinese edition of Diablo Immortal could be in trouble after the game’s official Weibo account compared Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh.
Although Diablo Immortal came out on June 2 in the US, it has yet to come out in China. Now, based on a Weibo announcement from the game’s official account, it could be a long time before that happens.
According to translations of the announcement, the official account of Diablo Immortal Weibo apparently insulted Xi Jinping, the leader of China, in a mixture of epic proportions.
Diablo Immortal Weibo account mocks Xi Jinping
Reddit / ShiftYourCarcass
A post and translation that allegedly brought Diablo Immortal into hot water.
The announcement reads “Why isn’t (Winnie) the bear leaving the office yet?” and mentions Winnie the Pooh, with whom Xi has been compared in the past. The Chinese leader doesn’t like those comparisons, which he is a reason to ban various games and media in the past.
At games subreddit, the post about the reported ban included an excerpt from a Chinese Diablo fan that provided more context.
“The man who works in the Diablo Immortal marketing team (who has access to the official account on social media) has done something very sensitive,” they explained. “Now, we don’t know if he forgot to change the account or deliberately used the official DI account – but the result is that he used the official DI account to publish a thread complaining‘ When the MEDvjed (which implies President Xi) would fall with seats? ‘”
The announcement itself caught attention only when it went viral on Weib, which reportedly resulted in harsh penalties for NetEase, Blizzard’s distribution partner in China.
“That’s why DI marketing is completely closed in China, and Netease itself has also been hit hard,” they continued. “Rumor has it that Netease won’t get any license to publish games for the next three years, but we don’t know if that’s true or not.”
If NetEase is unable to release games for the next three years, it could affect every Blizzard game, not just Diablo Immortal.
“If that’s true, it will also affect Diablo4, Overwatch 2 and WoW Dragonflight, and maybe even force Blizzard to change its collaborator in China,” the Chinese fan continued.
Immortal release it is known to be delayed in Chinabut before Blizzard said it was to “implement quality of life changes” and “optimize” the game.
There is no official confirmation that the game is completely banned in China, but now that this Weibo post has come to light, the delay of the “surprise” is no longer so much a surprise.
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