WOW nearly out of woods in China

By Oli Welsh Published 5 January, 2010

Sources say fine agreed, Lich King soon.

Reuters reports that World of Warcraft's operator in China, NetEase, may be close to ending its dispute with regulators over the running of the game.

China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), which ordered NetEase to stop taking fees and account registrations in November, told Reuters that a resolution would be announced "very soon".

Sources say that GAPP and the Chinese Ministry of Culture - which disagreed with the regulator on the issue - have reached a consensus to fine NetEase and allow it to continue running the game. Analysts also believe that NetEase is ready to launch the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack as soon as the dispute is cleared up.

NetEase took over the Chinese WOW operation from The9 last year, and there followed long delays before the game was back online, which were blamed on technical difficulties. Once it was in full operation, GAPP claimed that it had authorised a beta only and that taking money and new account registrations for the game was "illegal behaviour" on NetEase's part.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (6) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Tyranix #1 2 years ago

    Yay now Blizzard can start quoting subscriber numbers again without embarassment!

  • Kami #2 2 years ago

    "Yay now Blizzard can start quoting subscriber numbers again without embarassment!"

    Very very true, but at least we know how big a market China is now for Blizzard.

    p.s. WoW fans - before the thumbs down, let's be clear that Blizzard has made no secret that they're in a spot of bother with money, and the prolonged loss of a gigantic market in this case has done NOTHING to help them (but you could argue it's their own fault for trying to skip already well-established hoops). It's also sadly very truthful that here in the West sub numbers have been falling a lot (I make no reference to my opinion WotLK has been a big part of the problem), and without big numbers from China to add in Blizzard have been very quiet on sub figures since WotLK launched 14 months ago. If we start seeing sub numbers again, we'll know why... although Blizzard really can't be that desperate and stupid.

    ... can they?
    Edited by 2 at 05/01/10 @ 12:05

  • oupe #3 2 years ago

    When I read the headline I figured they must have chopped all trees in WoW...

    wow.

  • actionfitz #4 2 years ago

    will be interesting to see what Wrath of the Lich king 'sanitised Chinese version' looks like.
    Seeing as they have problems with the portrayal of skeletons etc.

    [link url= http://kotaku.com/275950/china-censors-wow-skeletons
    ]http://ko taku.com/275950/china-censors-w...[/link]

    "In a classic example of 'missing the forest for the trees,' the Chinese government has banned undead skeletons from World of Warcraft, insisting they be covered up with flesh. The9, the Chinese company that holds the license to operate WoW in China, complied with the order, as well as the demand to change player corpses into graves. The reason? Promoting 'harmonious society,' of course.

    Hu Jintao, Chinese president, has called for action to 'purify' the internet of anything that might affect 'national cultural information security' or undermine his attempt to promote a 'harmonious society'."

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #5 2 years ago

    @Kami - I wont thumb you down even tho I am a WoW player - What you've said is very true when Blizzard first reported the 10/11 million mark it turned out over half was the market in china and the rest split between the US and EU, mainly because IMO China has the 'pay by the hour' methord we don't irrc..

    As you said and I agree the US/EU markets have dropped off a bit over the course of WotLK, mainly because again IMO it's very 'been there done that' for players now not because the game is boring or 'lacks content' I think it's mainly because many of the playerbase is obessed with 'first' and burn through content too fast by playing litterly 24/7 to 'win' and then unsubbing once they've done with it until the next content update, and then repeat..

    I think thats kinda the core reason behind ICC being staggered in it's release and why a LOT of new features in Cata are in fact softcapped per week/day (ie you can't 'max out' everything just by contently playing), Blizzard want to keep a consistant playerbase these days not like the playerbase above which only turn up for a month every 3-4 months just for the new content, remember they aren't in charge of their own bank accounts any more, and I wont be surpised to find out their 'profits' are going into Activision's back pockets to throw about in littering our houses with plastic.
    Edited by 1 at 05/01/10 @ 14:20

  • craziii #6 2 years ago

    that just means wow needs more content. keep the content going, then the subs will return!