Project Hydra

It's no secret that China is one of the biggest overall markets for Blizzard's World of Warcraft. For the past few years the Chinese company The9 has handled the overall administration for Blizzard's hit MMO. Today the developer's parent publisher Activision Blizzard announced it has signed an agreement with an affiliated company of NetEase.com to handle the World of Warcraft business in China for a period of three years.

Rumors that Blizzard might change their Chinese connection have persisted for month, especially since Blizzard announced plans to team with NetEase.com to provide online services in China for their Battle.net services along with online support for Warcraft III and the upcoming Starcraft II. Financial terms of today's deal with NetEase.com were not disclosed.