ArenaNet has inked a deal with KongZhong Corporation to bring Guild Wars 2 to mainland China. According to GamesIndustry.biz, the deal is one of the biggest licensing transactions for any western title.

The partnership is apparently one of the biggest licensing transactions for a Western game in the Chinese marketplace. As part of the deal, ArenaNet has the option to buy up to 40 million of KongZhong Corporation's ordinary shares after the commercial launch of Guild Wars 2.

Read more at the link above.

Originally posted by Xstatic912
And here I was thinking this was already worked out long ago...

Nope. You're probably thinking Korea, which the game still isn't out in yet.

“We were number two to World of Warcraft with Guild Wars, now we want to beat them. We’ll be satisfied when the Guild Wars 2 is the most successful MMO… One MMO has been on the top of the heap for seven years now, but there’s been a progression in the industry for other games being able to attract more and more players. And we’re set to climb to the top.”

Mike 0'Brien wasn't kidding when he said he wants to beat WOW.

And we will witness how The King of Kings dies a painfull death within 1 year in Asia.
WoW offers nothing but milking their playerbase.

World of QueueCraft, many many many players are fed up with it.
Go go Anet show Blizzard they could have tripled their playerbase but instead took away their most talented developers to work a new project and left their loyal players empty handed and with a scrub lead designers Greg Street.

About time a fresh wind was comming, in the end its us THE PLAYERS who gain from it the most.
More competition = better qaulity.

Going to China is a must to increase usernumbers for hype. Any MMORPG with a successful history like Aion or WoW went to China either. Many other failed to do so. Its the biggest "free" PR campaign you can run, even if you hardly earn anything on them.

HURR WE HAVE MILLIONS OF USER WORLDWIDE!!!

(too bad you wil never see them because they are playing on Chinese server)

Originally posted by Mothanos

And we will witness how The King of Kings dies a painfull death within 1 year in Asia.
WoW offers nothing but milking their playerbase.

World of QueueCraft, many many many players are fed up with it.
Go go Anet show Blizzard they could have tripled their playerbase but instead took away their most talented developers to work a new project and left their loyal players empty handed and with a scrub lead designers Greg Street.

About time a fresh wind was comming, in the end its us THE PLAYERS who gain from it the most.
More competition = better qaulity.

I am curious how you think blizz could have trippled their playerbase.  I see an 8 year old game that grow year upon year for 4 years, and only this year has been in a slow decline. 

I think ANET would need to change GW2 to work in mainline china, those players like power they like to have powerful toons with powerful gear, you dont really get that in GW2.  GW2 in China will likey be a F2P game but wtth a much expanded gem store selling P2W gear cus thats just what that audience likes.

Originally posted by expresso

I am curious how you think blizz could have trippled their playerbase.  I see an 8 year old game that grow year upon year for 4 years, and only this year has been in a slow decline. 

WOW almost doubled its player base w China launch

July 2005, WOW claimed 1.5 mill  in Asia contrast to 2mill US/EU

Blizzard's China Success Spawns 3.5 Million WoW Userbase July 21, 2005

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=5989

I'm glad GW2 is expanding but I think Anet should be a little more careful with its statements. There is not one AAA title which gained subs continuosly since WoW and they stopped growing only two years ago.  Plus western titles are not so popular in China.

Guning for the 1st place is a really big task, but maybe it's not that impossible. When WoW losses most of its subs base and if GW2 won't stop growing for at least 2 years then I can see it happen.

Being ambitious is  a great thing but they should be really careful. WoW has already beaten one GW title.

Originally posted by expresso

I am curious how you think blizz could have trippled their playerbase.  I see an 8 year old game that grow year upon year for 4 years, and only this year has been in a slow decline. 

I think ANET would need to change GW2 to work in mainline china, those players like power they like to have powerful toons with powerful gear, you dont really get that in GW2.  GW2 in China will likey be a F2P game but wtth a much expanded gem store selling P2W gear cus thats just what that audience likes.

Half of Wows numbers are Chinese and if you look on sub numbers for the while it was closed over there you see that it is a great way to get players. I think he is talking about Blizzards way of handeling players in China though, they dont pay monthly fees over there, instead they put money to an account that ticks down every hour as you play. If you have money left you are counted as a subscriber.

Wow did actually start to decline last year already but whatever, they still get in $$$$$$$$ and that is impressive for a 8 year old game.

I agree that they probably will have to change the game somewhat for China, but they are licensing it so the Chinese company they licanse it to will most likely fix it up to fit their market, after all do they know best what needs to be polished up. My guess would be that they slower leveling speed a lot..

Originally posted by Psychow
Chinese Player: "Damn those American Gold Farmer spammers..."

Dont laugh about that, it might happen pretty soon. If China continues a few more years like they have for a long while they will own the world.