The official Diablo Immortal account on Weibo was blocked from posting for “violating relevant laws and regulations” last week, according to a banner notice affixed to the feed. The surprise postponement comes at a delicate time for China’s games industry, which is only just emerging from a months-long freeze on game permits during a wide-ranging crackdown on tech firms. Reports said compounding the problem was a post on a social media site of the Chinese gaming group disparaging “the bear” - a reference to cartoon character Winnie the Pooh who President Xi Jinping is seen by some critics to resemble. Tencent’s closest rival in China said on Sunday that it will postpone the original June 23 China launch of Diablo Immortal, the mobile game it co-developed with Activision Blizzard.

Shares slumped almost 11% in Hong Kong, leading declines on the benchmark Hang Seng Tech Index, which dropped as much as 2.5%. Chinese gaming giant NetEase plunged the most in nine months on Monday after delaying the launch of Diablo Immortal in the world’s biggest mobile app market, putting its sales recovery in question.

BLIZZARD STOCKS SINCE DIABLO IMMORTAL