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World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
China govt to crack down on foreign online games
China govt to crack down on foreign online games
GamesIndustry - March 18, 2009
Submitted by deftangel (291) at 9:50AM PST on March 18, 2009
The Chinese government dept which deals with the import of foreign videogames into the country, the GAPP, has announced that it plans to tighten restrictions. It will crack down on approval criteria in an apparent bid to avoid the excessive penetration of foreign culture among Chinese youth," Those words from Digital Publishing Bureau director Kou Xiaowei also included a reference to World of Warcraft, which is still awaiting approval for the Lich King expansion's release in the region.
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16deftangel posted on World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC) at 9:50AM PST on March 18, 2009. Article: China govt to crack down on foreign online gamesThe Chinese government dept which deals with the import of foreign videogames into the country, the GAPP, has announced that it plans to tighten restrictions. It will crack down on approval criteria in an apparent bid to avoid the excessive penetration of foreign culture among Chinese youth," Those words from Digital Publishing Bureau director Kou Xiaowei also included a reference to World of Warcraft, which is still awaiting approval for the Lich King expansion's release in the region.[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 291 ]
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To be fair, Blizzard have played this down;-
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/blizzard-plays-down-talk-of-china-issues
But the Chinese govt. are under a lot of pressure both to "do something" about foreign MMO's and preserve their own games industry.
If Acti-Blizz follow the same pattern as the first expansion, then the Lich King expansion won't actually bring them much direct revenue as they'll give it away for free. The idea of course that it keeps a high number of paying subscribers online. There are bound to be questions about how much hassle this is going to be worth them if it's not thought the lack of the Lich King will hurt subscriptions too much. Especially if they are keen to get StarCraft II launched in Asia this year which has significant potential to cannibalise the WoW install base anyway.
*disclaimer: I'm short on this stock