It has been almost a year since the worldwide launch of World of Warcraft’s expansion Wrath of the Lich King, but the China hub, hosted by NetEase, has yet to implement it. No surprise there, true, but if the company wishes not to end up the way executives of The9, the game’s previous license holder, did, it is highly recommended they just agree with whatever the Chinese governments wants to implement in the game so it can be patched … asap!
An official of China’s Ministry of Culture told online games portal 17173 recently that they were still reviewing NetEase’s application …read more

Talk about adding insult to injury. After losing the license to World of Warcraft and failing to come out with another hit massively multiplayer online role-playing game, China-based online games operator The9 has been sued by its shareholders for allegedly violating the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by making inaccurate statements about its finances between November 15th, 2006 and July 15th, 2009.
Oh, and we’re not talking about some law in China but the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the law governing the secondary trading of stocks, bonds and the like in the United States of America.
High-profile law firm Coughlin Stoia …read more

Stopping short of saying that World of Warcraft should not be allowed to operate, the director of China’s General Administration of Press and Publication has labeled the popular Western-made massively multiplayer online role-playing game as “unhealthy.”
In a statement published by China-based online games portal 17173, General Administration of Press and Publication director Song Jianxin said experts have discovered unhealthy content in World of Warcraft, which is being operated in the mainland by NetEase.
Song said World of Warcraft is too violent and filled with horror, has too much blood and gore, and provides a detailed description of how to make biological …read more

After a month of speculations, Blizzard Entertainment has finally broken its silence on China’s investigation into the joint venture between the Western gaming giant and NetEase, a China-based online games operator.
According to online games portal 17173, Blizzard Entertainment co-founder and president Mike Morhaime clarified that the joint venture between Blizzard and NetEase would focus on providing technical support to World of Warcraft and wouldn’t be involved in other aspects of operation.
An article on 17173 also tagged The9, former operator of World of Warcraft in China, as the culprit behind the dissemination of rumors that the joint venture was established to …read more

There is talk that NetEase, the current license holder in China of the highly successful World of Warcraft franchise, is encountering difficulty in getting the Wrath of the Lich King expansion past censors.
World of Warcraft’s previous China-based licensee, The9, had similar issues hounding the game’s update. In February 2009, The9 issued a statement denying rumors that the launch of Wrath of the Lich King would be postponed indefinitely.
In April, Blizzard Entertainment, developer of World of Warcraft, granted the license to the game to NetEase. The only thing left unchanged is the status of Wrath of the Lich King with China’s …read more

Almost everybody in this part of the world is talking about it, the brewing war between China-based online games operator The9’s former game, World of Warcraft, and its new project, World of Fight.
All this talk, however, is premature. For one, World of Fight isn’t even a reality yet—at least, based on whatever is coming out of the rumor mill.
The speculation is built on top of two facts: that The9 lost the license to Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft to another Chinese online games operator, NetEase; and that The9 has launched a new website that says, among other things, World of …read more

Nothing seems out of the ordinary, just an online games operator launching a new server for one of its most successful massively multiplayer online role-playing games—that is, if not for the fact that The9 has already lost control of World of Warcraft in China.
About a week ago, MMOtaku reported a rumor that The9 had lost the license to the popular Western MMORPG franchise, which developer Blizzard Entertainment awarded to NetEase, another China-based online games operator. This supposedly tall tale was later confirmed by all three companies—Blizzard, NetEase and, surprisingly, The9.
Now comes news that The9 has opened a new server for …read more

NetEase isn’t wasting any time. A week after news that it has secured the rights to operate World of Warcraft in China, wresting it from the clutches of online games operator The9, NetEase is starting recruitment for technical and managerial personnel to handle the world-renowned massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Blizzard Entertainment of the United States.
Here’s the nitty-gritty from China-based online games portal 17173:

Source: China Daily
The official website of NetEase has recently posted a recruitment ad for customer service of World of Warcraft in China.
NetEase is mainly looking for game master, customer service specialist, trainer, GM leader, customer …read more

If the latest online games industry news from China is to be believed, then all I can say is, “What in the Nine Hells happened?”
Check out the headline on China-based online games portal 17173:
The9 May Have Lost Control of World of Warcraft in China
Late yesterday, multiple sources reported that The9, the operator of World of Warcraft in China, had broken up with Blizzard Entertainment. NetEase, another Chinese game operator, is more likely to get the license instead, which will take over the operation of World of Warcraft in China this June.

The site goes on to say that it got it …read more

To publish or operate an online game in China, a company needs to secure a publication number from the General Administration of Press and Publication. Of course, the government has to first review and approve whatever it is an online games operator wants to publish. Without this approval, a massively multiplayer online game can’t be launched.
Patches, expansions and updates undergo a similar procedure, and it is in this that The9 is having problems, particularly in its bid to get approval for Wrath of the Lich King, an expansion for the highly successful Blizzard Entertainment franchise, World of Warcraft.

The9 has received …read more