Chinese Overwatch 2 servers could come back, World Cup player claims
The Overwatch 2 servers might be coming back online in mainland China in 2024. Long-time Overwatch League main tank for the Hangzhou Spark and Chinese World Cup team player Xu "guxue" Qiulin shared the rumour during a broadcast on his stream.
Overwatch 2 back on the menu in China?
Click to enlargeFor the Overwatch World Cup, national team players from the qualifying countries flew all the way to California to compete during Blizzcon. The Chinese national team finished in second place, only falling to the surprise winner Saudi Arabia during the final.
Once returned home, guxue turned his stream on and shared the rumour that Chinese Overwatch servers would make a comeback in 2024.
According to a transcription by Weibo user moe, guxue shared: "When I was in America, I heard through the grapevine that it will be announced soon, that is, the Chinese server will be officially announced soon." He continued, "But I don't know how long it will take to go online.
"They still have to set up the servers. Anyway, next year we will definitely be able to play on the Chinese server."
Rumours of the return have been circulating in the Chinese scene for a while, though no definitive evidence could be found at this time. GGRecon has reached out to Blizzard Entertainment regarding the statement but has not received a reply.
The initial shutdown
Blizzard Entertainment announced the shutdown of Overwatch 2 servers in China in November 2022, following the failure to find another licensing agreement, affecting games like World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo III, and Overwatch 2 in China. Servers subsequently went dark in January this year.
Due to a disagreement between Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase, Overwatch 2, as well as World of Warcraft and Hearthstone, lost their publishing rights in January 2023. With Steam being available in China and Overwatch being put on the game distribution service in August 2023, Chinese players were once again able to play by conventional means.
A return of a dedicated publisher could once again bring back Chinese local servers, potentially attracting players back to the game.
