Chinese Government Nixes WoW Again

The future of Blizzard's megaton MMOG may be in jeopardy (in China) as the game finds itself caught between two warring factions in the Chinese government.

It's not as though we didn't see this one coming: After two months of downtime in China pending approval for Wrath of the Lich King, World of Warcraft finally relaunched this past summer in the world's most populous country, albeit with some modifications. However, restrictions imposed last month by China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) barring foreign investment in online gaming in China made many wonder about whether or not the government entity would be targeting WoW in particular.

Yes it is, according to Reuters. The GAPP, citing "gross violations" of regulations, has returned the license for Blizzard's Chinese partner NetEase to operate The Burning Crusade - curiously, not Wrath of the Lich King. In a statement on the organization's website, the GAPP demanded that NetEase stop collecting subscription fees and suspend new account creation, though NetEase said it had not yet received official notice.

This move is seen by many as part of a power struggle between the GAPP and the Chinese Ministry of Culture, which had been given the power to regulate online games that had previously belonged to the GAPP. The MoC was the regulatory body that gave the A-OK to WoW: Wrath of the Lich King this past summer once the necessary edits had been made, which may be why the GAPP has targeted Burning Crusade instead.

Even in the worst-case scenario - in which WoW is banned in China permanently - Blizzard is unlikely to be severely affected. During the two-month blackout this summer, many Chinese players simply opted to log onto Taiwanese servers and play via that network instead. While the Chinese playerbase is estimated to make up anywhere from 40% to 50% of the total WoW population, currency imbalances, revenue-splitting and different payment plans means that the Chinese market produces only about 5-6% of WoW's total income. Which is still multiple millions of dollars, but not as severe a loss as it might have been.

(Via Massively)

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Woah, those are some busty drinks bottles...

I jest.

You've gotta think your citizens are quite stupid if you think you need to police how they spend their spare time like that.

Oh, China.

You so crazy.

boo! I dont like WoW but i dont really like it when the gov gets involved in my past time either :/

Yay, China one step at a time killing itself...this time by banning WoW...it's lose/lose for them...Let WoW in...money and productivity down the drain....Keep WoW out get backlash from the people...muted ofcourse.

I feeling like facepalming in chinas direaction

CantFaketheFunk:
Even in the worst-case scenario - in which WoW is banned in China permanently - Blizzard is unlikely to be severely affected. During the two-month blackout this summer, many Chinese players simply opted to log onto Taiwanese servers and play via that network instead.

So....why not just do that? Why bother with all this stress when there is an alternative that doesn't hurt the consumer?

hansari:

CantFaketheFunk:
Even in the worst-case scenario - in which WoW is banned in China permanently - Blizzard is unlikely to be severely affected. During the two-month blackout this summer, many Chinese players simply opted to log onto Taiwanese servers and play via that network instead.

So....why not just do that? Why bother with all this stress when there is an alternative that doesn't hurt the consumer?

Anything that acknowledges Taiwan hurts China's ego.

Booze Zombie:
Woah, those are some busty drinks bottles...

I jest.

You've gotta think your citizens are quite stupid if you think you need to police how they spend their spare time like that.

No, they think their citizens are smart.

And thats what they are -AFRAID- of.

So they do their best to keep them stupid. It's not as extreme as North Korea and generally, I accept China as just 'culturally different', except when they conquor and subdue a smaller country and everything *COUGHCOUGHTIBETCOUGH*

One of these days China is going to do something like this to a large enough part of their population to cause a revolution. -crosses fingers-

stonethered:
One of these days China is going to do something like this to a large enough part of their population to cause a revolution. -crosses fingers-

smoking ban lol

This may be the key to bringing down China, we shall use their WoW-obsessed nerds against them!

Gestapo Hunter:

stonethered:
One of these days China is going to do something like this to a large enough part of their population to cause a revolution. -crosses fingers-

smoking ban lol

no,
sex tax

oh silly China doesn't know whats its doing

The only people who play MMO's in China are RMT. Seriously. They work hard and sell money to the Japanese and spoilt Americans.

Really, we get to do this crap again? *sigh* I'll get the cinder blocks, duct tape, and flasks.....its gonna be a looooong raid.....

I think China has had almost as many problems with WoW as they have had with Tienanmen Square.

Phoenix Arrow:
The only people who play MMO's in China are RMT. Seriously. They work hard and sell money to the Japanese and spoilt Americans.

Uh... no, not exactly :P

CantFaketheFunk:

Phoenix Arrow:
The only people who play MMO's in China are RMT. Seriously. They work hard and sell money to the Japanese and spoilt Americans.

Uh... no, not exactly :P

I know. :D
I played FFXI, the game with the most messed up currency ever. No Chinese people played it apart from RMT, someone sent me a documentary about it on youtube back in the day. They used to take people in off the street, give them food and shelter in return for them farming for gil. I still can't decide if it's admirable, pure evil or fake.