Update 11/17 2:56 pm PT: IGN has learned additional details leading to what ended Activision Blizzard's 14-year partnership with NetEase following one NetEase executive's social media statement pointing the finger at a 'jerk.'

According to sources at Activision Blizzard familiar with the company's partnership with NetEase, the agreements between the two companies are reviewed every few years in order to extend the existing agreements.

However, a new proposal from NetEase would have "fundamentally changed" the terms of the agreement and impact certain aspects of the deal including, "how games are launched and operated," as well as changes over the "control of our IP."

Our sources also indicate that the company is committed to the Chinese gaming market, one of the largest consumer markets in the world, and that "alternatives" are being looked at to bring the games back to the region in the future.

Original Story: NetEase and Blizzard’s partnership might not mean too much in North America, but was the reason why Blizzard games were available in one of the world’s largest gaming markets. That partnership is dead as of today and according to one senior NetEase figure, it’s all because of one “jerk.”

Simon Zhu, a 10-year veteran at NetEase who has held several senior positions at the company, including President of Global Investment and Partnership, wrote a short post on LinkedIn mourning the end of the NetEase and Blizzard partnership.

“As a gamer who spent ten thousand hours in the world of Azeroth, starcraft and overwatch, I feel so heartbroken as I will no longer have the access to my account and memories next year,” Zhu writes. “One day, when what has happened behind the scene could be told, developers and gamers will have a whole new understanding of how much damage a jerk can make.”

Activision Blizzard announced that several game franchises including Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft will become unplayable in CHina starting on January 23, 2023.

The company said it couldn’t reach a new deal with NetEase, the Chinese company responsible for publishing Blizzard games in the country and a necessary partner to navigate China’s publishing bureaucracy.

Mobile games like Diablo: Immortal, will still be playable as they fall under a separate agreement.

“We’re immensely grateful for the passion our Chinese community has shown throughout the nearly 20 years we’ve been bringing our games to China through NetEase and our partners,” Blizzard said in a statement.

But from Zhu’s perspective, it sounds like they view a lone “jerk” individual at Blizzard as responsible for the partnership’s end. However, it’s unclear who that person may be and what exactly they did to end the partnership.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

There's a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram between superhero comic book readers and pro wrestling fans, and that's the target audience for The Gimmick. This upcoming Ahoy Comics series mashes up both genres to create a violent, darkly comedic tale right out of a Coen Bros. movie.

The Gimmick's creative team includes writer Joanne Starer (Sirens of the City), artist Elena Gogou (Quests Aside), colorist Andy Troy, letterer Rob Steen and editor Tom Peyer. The series also boasts covers from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl artist Erica Henderson, with Khary Randolph (Excellence) also illustrating a variant cover for issue #1. Starer also brings some real-world wrestling cred to the series, as she's an industry veteran who previously oversaw a pro wrestling promotion based in Pennsylvania.

The Gimmick centers on Shane Bryant, a wrestler whose successes in the ring haven't helped him develop the perfect, crowd-pleasing persona. That's despite the fact that Shane also possesses superhuman strength. And when he accidentally, violently dismembers an opponent on live television, Shane is forced to flee to Tijuana and build a new identity for himself both in and out of the ring. But even as Shane finally creates his elusive "gimmick," his new world is threatened by unfinished business from his old one.

“The Gimmick is born from the wild, incredible, and sometimes terrible experiences I had in the world of pro-wrestling,” said Starer in Ahoy's press release. “I've seen it from many angles: as an in-ring performer, a promoter, and a wrestler's girlfriend. I've got stories, y'all.”

“The Gimmick combines three of my favourite elements in a story, comedy, violence and character drama,” added Gogou. “Shane is the human equivalent of a dumpster fire, going from one messy situation to the next in the most ridiculous ways. He makes a man's head explode in the first pages of the first issue, goes on the run with his mentor, falls in love. It is an outrageous, fun and messy ride and I was immediately sold when I was approached about working on the book. The way Joanne has tackled this story perfectly encapsulates the over-the-top essence of wrestling, but remains grounded by its characters, who are distinctively flawed and human. I'm really excited for people to read what we've created!”

Look for The Gimmick #1 to be released on March 8, 2023.

If this new series has piqued your interest, why not read the entire first issue of My Bad, another genre-bending series from Ahoy Comics? You can also read IGN's exclusive preview of The Incal: Psychoverse, a new prequel to the acclaimed graphic novel series.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

A new Legacy of Kain game is looking likely after Embracer Group received 100,000 responses to its recent survey asking fans if they wanted more from the franchise.

In its second quarter financial results, Embracer Group said it was overwhelmed with the number of responses to the survey it released in October and responded plainly: "We hear you loudly and clearly".

Phil Rogers, CEO of Embracer's 12th operative group that encompasses Legacy of Kain creator Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Interactive, said: "We wanted to gain a community perspective on what players are looking for should we revisit the land of Nosgoth and, of course, our iconic IP Legacy of Kain."

He continued: "In the post we've found that surveys typically get between [1,000] and 3,000 responses, but when we asked folk about Legacy of Kain we received over 100,000 responses, and 73,000 gamers completed it entirely.

"We saw the news of our survey shared across social and press platforms and really felt this was a great way to reignite this passionate fan community with this legendary PC console game series. Rest assured, we hear you loudly and clearly and will continue to update you on the 'What if?' possibilities ahead for Legacy of Kain in the future."

Embracer Group had made clear its plans previously to explore its developers' back catalogues, announcing in May that it sees "great potential" in making sequels, remakes, remasters, and spin-offs from dormant franchises. Legacy of Kain certainly fits the bill, with 2003's Legacy of Kain: Defiance being the most recent entry in the franchise.

Legacy of Kain is a series of action-adventure games focusing on vampires living in the grim fantasy world of Nosgoth. They were notable for their high quality writing and puzzle solving alongside action, winning many fans along the way. Uncharted creator Amy Hennig directed several of the games in her time at Crystal Dynamics.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Developer EA Dice has announced that Battlefield 2042 Season 3: Escalation arrives on November 22, bringing a new map, Battle Pass, Specialist, and more.

The new map, Spearhead, puts players in the Swedish wilderness as they fight in and around two high tech weapon manufacturing facilities. Season 3 will also see launch maps Manifest and Breakaway reworked, but not until December and January respectively.

A refreshed 100-tier Battle Pass will also arrive with the update that includes new Specialist Rasheed Zain as one of the free unlockables. This Egyptian-born security expert comes armed with an XM370A airburst launcher designed to force enemies out of cover and the fastest health recharge of any Specialist.

Speaking of weapons, Season 3 brings the Rorsch MK-4 Railgun, NVK-S22 Smart Shotgun, NVK-P125 Bullpup Pistol, and the Battlefield-favourite throwing knives to 2042. A new vehicle, the EMKV90-TOR Tank, is also being added to the game, which can be switched into different modes depending on the situation.

New assignments are also being added, letting players unlock even more Vault weapons to use in All Out Warfare.

EA DICE also announced that its Specialist rework will be arriving sometime during Season 3, seeing a return of the classic Battlefield Class system. Though it won't be finished until Season 4 is available, Specialists will be slowly but surely changed to reflect the new system.

It did share some details on what exactly will change, revealing that Irish will be moving to a Support class and taking Crawford's trait. Crawford will therefore be changing to Engineer and receive a new, unannounced trait based on the switch.

Battlefield 2042 hasn't had the smoothest first year on the market, only launching its Season 1 in June (seven months after launch) as it was delayed to focus on more pressing issues such as including a scoreboard, but this update was also delayed.

Publisher EA admitted around the same time that Battlefield 2042 did not meet expectations, and soon after a petition asking for refunds started online that more than 230,000 players have now signed. Battlefield 2042's numbers had diminished in the meantime, as in early March it had fewer players on Steam than Battlefield 1, 4, and 5.

EA DICE is looking to show fans how the game has improved since launch, however, following a generally well received Season 2. It's bringing Battlefield 2042 to Xbox Game Pass and EA Access alongside its Season 3 launch and is also hosting several free-to-play weekends throughout December.

The game can be downloaded and played for free on Xbox from December 1 to 4, on Steam from December 1 to 5, and on PlayStation from December 16 to 23.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Until Dawn and The Quarry developer Supermassive Games is currently developing another Dark Pictures Anthology game set in space.

As reported by Eurogamer, a trailer for the new game appeared at the end of The Dark Pictures: The Devil In Me, and YouTube user Slimpy has already uploaded footage from an early copy.

The game is called Directive 8020 and will act as the Season 2 premiere of The Dark Pictures Anthology after The Devil In Me wrapped up Season 1. The minute-long trailer shows what appears to be a space station from well into the future, as a narrator comments that it's looking for humanity's new home.

"This is Commander Stafford of the forward reconnaissance vessel Cassiopeia," the voice said. "After successfully rendezvousing with the Charybdis marker we have detached the booster ring and spirits are high as we make our final approach to Tau Ceti f.

"The ship has suffered a hull impact, but damage is minimal and our technicians are restoring full functionality. Our next transmission will be broadcast from orbit around humanity's future home."

A lovely space adventure doesn't match Supermassive's horror background, however, and some spookiness is naturally sprinkled into the trailer. "This is Thomas Carter", speaks a panicked voice halfway through the previous transmission. "Something's wrong with Simms. She's trying to kill me."

While this is Supermassive's first confirmation that the new game will be set in space (joining a recent trend brought on by other sci-fi horror games including the Dead Space Remake and The Callisto Protocol), we've known of Directive 8020 for some time.

The developer trademarked six new Dark Pictures games back in February which included it and Switchback, the PlayStation VR 2 game it announced earlier in November. The other four games are called The Craven Man, Intercession, Winterfold, and O Death.

IGN has given The Dark Pictures Anthology mixed reviews so far. We said Man of Medan was "good", and "offers an unnerving horror adventure" with consequences directly linked to the player's actions. Little Hope was "mediocre", with "uninspired characters and relatively meaningless consequences," but we thought House of Ashes was "great", and the studio's best since Until Dawn released in 2015.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Activision Blizzard has announced that several of its game franchises including Overwatch, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and more will be unplayable in China as of January 23, 2023.

The Blizzard side of its business was unable to reach a new deal with Chinese tech company NetEase, who publishes the games in China, meaning its agreement will expire on the aforementioned date.

World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Warcraft III: Reforged, Overwatch 2, the StarCraft series, Diablo III, and Heroes of the Storm will all be unplayable. Diablo: Immortal, Blizzard's controversial mobile game, is published under a separate agreement and is therefore unaffected at the moment.

Activision Blizzard is already looking into alternative ways to bring its games to China but it's unclear if and when this may happen.

"We’re immensely grateful for the passion our Chinese community has shown throughout the nearly 20 years we’ve been bringing our games to China through NetEase and other partners," said Blizzard president Mike Ybarra "Their enthusiasm and creativity inspire us, and we are looking for alternatives to bring our games back to players in the future."

As reported by Reuters, NetEase promised to serve its players "until the last minute" and keep their data and assets well protected. Upcoming expansions including World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Hearthstone: March of the Lich King, and Overwatch 2 Season 2 will all continue to be released, but new sales of the discontinued games will be suspended in the coming days.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Quentin Tarantino is heading to the small screen for an upcoming project, bringing his talents as director of Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and more back to TV.

The famed director plans to shoot an eight-part series in 2023, but hasn’t offered up any further details like what the TV show is actually about. As reported by Variety, Tarantino revealed his plans while promoting his new book Cinema Speculation in New York.

Despite being most known for his films, Tarantino has worked in TV before, directing two episodes of the hit crime drama, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation back in 2005, along with an episode of ER in 1999.

He was also credited for his work on From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, a TV spin-off based on the hit 1999 vampire movie, From Dusk Till Dawn. Earlier this year, Tarantino also reportedly entered talks to direct several episodes of Justified: City Primeval, the FX limited series starring Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens.

Finally, Tarantino recently partnered with Netflix to turn his 2015 film The Hateful Eight into a four-episode miniseries as an “extended version”. The upcoming TV project would mark his first major original television show, however.

The director is considering a big step into TV production as he’s also planning to end his career as a filmmaker, announcing that his tenth film will be his last. “Drop the mic,” he said at the time. “Boom. Tell everybody, 'Match that s—t’.” But his wouldn’t be the first time he’s suggested a Hollywood exit.

“I don’t believe you should stay onstage until people are begging you to get off,” he explained. “I like the idea of leaving them wanting a bit more. I do think directing is a young man’s game, and I like the idea of an umbilical cord connection from my first to my last movie.

"I’m not trying to ridicule anyone who thinks differently, but I want to go out while I’m still hard. I like that I will leave a ten-film filmography, and so I’ve got two more to go after this.”

Want to read more about Tarantino? Find out why Tarantino isn’t interested in making a Marvel or DC movie and why he loved Top Gun: Maverick quite so much.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Man of Steel actress Amy Adams has said she would reprise her role as Lois Lane in upcoming DC films after Henry Cavill confirmed his return as Superman.

She expressed excitement at Cavill's comeback during an interview with Variety but said she hasn’t yet been approached by the studio. "I’m thrilled for him," she said. "He’s such a wonderful Superman so I’m very excited for him."

When asked about her own return, Adams added: "They haven’t spoken to me about it. If it’s me, great. If it’s somebody else, the role of Lois has been filled by so many wonderful actresses in the past, so I’ll support whatever direction they go."

Amy Adams reacts to Henry Cavill’s return as #Superman — and reveals if she would come back as Lois Lane. pic.twitter.com/YJKzpDZwfM

— Variety (@Variety) November 17, 2022

Adams first appeared as Lois Lane in the 2013 comic book movie hit, Man of Steel, going on to appear alongside Cavill’s Superman in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice as well as the critically maligned Justice League film.

Spoiler Warning: Details of Black Adam's mid-credit scene appear in the following paragraphs.

Cavill's return announcement came hot on the tail of his appearance in Black Adam in an uncredited cameo where he appears as the Man of Steel in a mid-credit scene.

“I wanted to make it official that I am back as Superman and the image you see in this post and what you saw in Black Adam are a very small taste of what's to come,” said Cavill at the time.

It’s unclear how Superman will fit into DC’s new 10-year roadmap, but with James Gunn becoming DC’s own Kevin Feige, it feels like we can expect a more cohesive vision for the DC universe moving forward.

Whether or not Adams, Diane Lane (Superman's mother), or any of the other actors involved in DC’s recent Superman films will return to the fray remains to be seen.

Want to read more about Superman? Check out why Henry Cavill wants a more joyful Superman this time around as well as who could end up being his nemesis.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Two of the biggest names in horror are about to team up, but no, not Freddy and Jason. James Wan and Jason Blum are reportedly in “advanced” talks to merge their production companies Atomic Monster and Blumhouse.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming merger would see the two companies continue to operate as separate labels, with each “maintaining its own creative autonomy and brand identity”.

Between them, Wan and Blum have been responsible for some of the biggest modern horror franchises, including Saw, Paranormal Activity, The Conjuring, and Sinister.

Also following the merger, Atomic Monster would gain a first-look deal with Universal, which Blumhouse has currently. Universal recently released Halloween Ends for Blumhouse and is also distributing M3GAN, a film that Wan and Blum teamed up on about an overprotective AI doll that goes on a bloody rampage to keep its child owner safe.

It’s also reported that both labels will be looking to expand further into video games, live experiences, and even audio. Wan has already seen his movies become Halloween-themed attractions and VR experiences, while Blumhouse is a part of Meta and NBCUniversal’s collaboration to bring existing franchises into the metaverse.

The pair first teamed up for the 2007 film Insidious, which spawned several sequels and is still, somewhere, in line for a potential crossover with Sinister – mashing together two of the scariest horror films of all time (and that’s been proven by science).

Want to read more about horror? Check out our 25 best horror movies of all time as well as the newest horror movies to watch following a terrifying Halloween.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Deep Silver has once again delayed Dead Island 2 and the game will now be released on April 28 next year.

Announced on the Dead Island Twitter (below), the delay from February 3 at least only marks a 12 week delay compared to the several years it's been since Dead Island 2's initial release window of spring 2015.

No specific reason for the delay was given so it appears developer Dambuster Studios simply needed more time, though it said it understands the irony in delaying Dead Island 2 again.

The delay is just 12 short weeks and development is on the final straight now. The new release date for Dead Island 2 will be April 28th 2023.#DeadIsland #SeeYouInHELLA pic.twitter.com/Vf1NARTECo

— Dead Island (@deadislandgame) November 17, 2022

"The irony of delaying Dead Island 2 is not lost on us and we are as disappointed as you undoubtedly are," it said in a joint statement with publisher Deep Silver. "The delay is just 12 short weeks and development is on the final straight now.

"We're going to take the time we need to make sure we can launch a game we're proud to launch. For those of you who've been waiting for years, thank you for hanging in there with us."

A new trailer and gameplay video will be released on December 6 during a Dead Island 2 Showcase, which is set to be the first proper look at the game fans have had since it was re-revealed after years of troubled development in August 2022.

Dead Island 2 was revealed at E3 2014 but soon went quiet before "mutual differences" separated previous developer Yager from Deep Silver. It was then moved to Sumo Digital before being shifted again in 2019 to its (presumably) final home of Dambuster Studios.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.