Blizzard, NetEase Collaboration Relaunches World of Warcraft in China
- Written by Shipra Sanganeria Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
- Fact-Checked by
US-based Blizzard Entertainment is set to return to China this summer, after entering into a new licensing agreement with its former partner NetEase.
The new deal will give Chinese gamers access to all the previous games available under the old licensing agreement, including World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and others.
In January 2023, Blizzard Games exited the Chinese gaming market after failing to renew its licensing agreement with China’s NetEase. The exit saw an end to an almost 15-year-long partnership and saw outcry by millions of Chinese netizens over losing access to their favorite games.
However, after Activision Blizzard’s 2023 acquisition by Microsoft and the latter’s friendly stance towards China, there were Chinese media reports about the company trying to re-enter the domestic gaming market.
Additionally, it seems Microsoft also wanted to establish its foothold in the growing Chinese gaming market. The country is the world’s leading gaming market and is expected to reach US$95.51 billion by 2029, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 7.63%, reports China Briefing .
Moreover, with the recent issuance of new gaming licenses, a trajectory shift in the government’s stance towards the gaming sector can be seen. Albeit the past two years’ restrictions on playtime for minors and in-game spending and rewards continue to persist.
“We are immensely grateful for the passion the Chinese community has shown for Blizzard games throughout the years,” Johanna Faries, president of Blizzard Entertainment, said in a statement on April 10 .
“We are focused on bringing our universes back to players with excellence and dedication,” Faries continued.
Under the new agreement, both companies have also agreed to explore ways to bring new NetEase games to Xbox consoles and other Microsoft platforms.
“Returning Blizzard’s legendary games to players in China while exploring ways to bring more new titles to Xbox demonstrates our commitment to bringing more games to more players around the world,” said Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming .
Google Combats Cookie Theft With New Security Tech in Chrome
- Written by Elijah Ugoh Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
- Fact-Checked by
Google is addressing the persistent issue of cookie theft with the introduction of Device Bound Session Credentials (DBSC), a novel web capability that will reduce account hijacking and make browning on Chrome safer. DBSC has been made public for anyone interested in learning more about how it will work.
DBSC ties authentication data to a specific device, rendering stolen cookies ineffective and disrupting the cookie theft industry, says Google on its Chrome blog .
Cookies, widely utilized by websites to store session information locally on users’ devices, have long been vulnerable to exploitation by malware. Attackers can copy cookies from users’ hard drives and utilize the user’s browsing session information to access sensitive data associated with the various websites they’ve visited. DBSC aims to reduce such account hijacking caused by cookie theft, making browsing on Chrome safer.
Kristian Monsen of the Chrome Counter Abuse team elaborated on DBSC’s purpose, stating, “By binding authentication sessions to the device, DBSC aims to disrupt the cookie theft industry since exfiltrating these cookies will no longer have any value. We think this will substantially reduce the success rate of cookie theft malware.”
Google emphasizes that this strategy will make cookie theft unattractive and useless for malware attackers. Monsen added that “DBSC doesn’t leak any meaningful information about the device beyond the fact that the browser thinks it can offer some type of secure storage.”
While initial rollout is expected for approximately half of desktop users, Google aims to broaden DBSC adoption by collaborating with industry stakeholders, including identity providers and browser developers like Microsoft for its Edge browser.
As Google pioneers DBSC to fortify user security and privacy, all announcements regarding the project will be made publicly on GitHub as well. It aims to allow origin trials for all interested websites by the end of 2024. This way, developers get early access to DSBC, allowing them to gather feedback, test compatibility, and assess the performance of the feature before it is officially released to the general public.
DBSC also aligns with Google’s ongoing efforts to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome and is currently being tested to protect Google Account users running Chrome Beta. Google plans to extend DBSC functionality to Google Workspace and Google Cloud customers “to provide another layer of account security.”
