After Disagreeing Over Financial Terms, Blizzard And NetEase Reportedly Scrapped Spin-Off WoW Mobile Game

Longtime partners Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase have reportedly canceled a spin-off World of Warcraft mobile game that was in development for three years. Before getting canned, the companies had conflict over the financial terms of the game, leading to both sides not agreeing and the termination of the project.

According to a report from Bloomberg, the WoW mobile spin-off game was codenamed "Neptune." As part of Blizzard and NetEase's push into the mobile market alongside Diablo Immortal and Warcraft Arclight Rumble, "Neptune" would give them another solid foothold to produce more original games for the platform.

The game's cancellation and the financial dispute are a rare sight for these business partners since both have worked together since 2008. The team tasked with developing the game got the short stick, though, as NetEase disbanded over 100 developers, and only some received internal transfers. Besides those involved, no one knows just how extensive the development got before getting thrown into the bin.

Despite the "Neptune" game never seeing the light of day, WoW fans can instead look forward to Shadowlands' Season 4 patch. The update is now available featuring eight returning dungeons from earlier expansions, new seasonal rewards, and more. In the announcement trailer released today, fans can catch a glimpse of the new Mythic+ dungeon pool, such as Operation Mechagon from Battle for Azeroth.

The main addition to this patch is the Fated Raids. Each week one of the three Shadowlands raids: Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, and Sepulcher of the First Ones, will become "Fated" along with associated World Bosses. The feature makes all enemies and bosses have adjusted stats based on any difficulty and is aimed at providing a "proper but not insurmountable challenge for those already experienced with the encounters." All bosses will become empowered by one of the four unique Fated Powers and will vary each week. Those who overcome this new challenge will receive rewards according to the difficulty level.

You can watch the short announcement video below or read the patch notes on WoW's website to learn what's available.

Note: Activision Blizzard is still under investigation by the state of California for serious harassment charges. CEO Bobby Kotick is alleged to have known about such actions within his company – and performed some himself – and shielded the perpetrators from consequences.