Citing "gross violations," regulator revokes NetEase's permit to operate game in authoritarian nation; internal government power struggle blamed.

After spending much of 2009 offline, the Chinese version of World of Warcraft has found itself in limbo once again. According to Reuters, the authoritarian nation's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has revoked the permit needed to operate the game from Blizzard Entertainment's localization partner, NetEase.

"I'm sorry sir, but that sword just isn't regulation size."

Regulators reportedly claimed that NetEase, which landed the localization contract for the massively multiplayer role-playing game in April, had committed "gross violations" of Chinese law. As a result, GAPP officials ordered NetEase to stop charging players of the game in China and cease accepting any new registrations. It also rejected the company's application to localize the first WOW expansion, The Burning Crusade.

As a result of the GAPP's move, NetEase saw its shares fall 2.4 percent on the NASDAQ stock exchange to close the day at $37.69. (Shares were down an additional 1.38 percent in after-hours trading.) Reps for the company told Reuters they believe they are in full compliance with the GAPP regulations and were seeking "clarification" as to what exact violations were committed.

Roth Capital Partners analyst Adam Krejcik blamed the sudden revocation on behind-the-scenes jockeying for power by the GAPP and China's powerful Ministry of Culture, which has been leading a crackdown on online gaming all year. "These guys are essentially stuck in the middle of this power struggle," Krejcik said of NetEase.

If World of Warcraft is shut down in China permanently, it will have an adverse effect on the earnings of Blizzard's parent company, Activision Blizzard. Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey told Reuters that $0.05 could be lopped off the megapublisher's per share earnings, which are expected to be $0.65 for the 2009 fiscal year.

Source: www.gamespot.com/news/6238638.html

Already posted it but most ignore my post because it didn't have a flashy title >< lol.

www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/258037/Policies-in-China.html

No one knows what exactly happens.  It does appear to look like some form of trade regulation, as it is specifically targetting a successful imported title.

At least the chinese gov't  managed to come up with some totally stupid excuse.  The western gov'ts simply levy tariff when they have no way to compete with imports from China.

So much for the pretense to free trade.  Its free if I am winning the hands.

Originally posted by pepsibottle

Already posted it but most ignore my post because it didn't have a flashy title >< lol.

www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/258037/Policies-in-China.html

i wont respond to anything that doesnt sound like it could be in a tabloid...

Is this for real? Even tho i followed the links i do have a hard time swallowing they would do this a second time. As much as i may not like WOW myself this is something i would consider bad news for all MMOs.

The only company this will really hurt is NetEase.

In 2008 even though China alone comprised almost half of WoWs subscribers it only accounted for about 7% of WoWs total revenue.

So, yeah, sensationalist headlines and predictions of doom aside this wont be as much of a blow to WoW, Blizzard or Activision Blizzard as people think it will.

If I remember correctly, most Chinese players play on Taiwan servers anyway. All this shut down means is that the rest of the Chinese players will move to Taiwan servers as well. So this is a non-issue for Blizzard.

Originally posted by heartless

If I remember correctly, most Chinese players play on Taiwan servers anyway. All this shut down means is that the rest of the Chinese players will move to Taiwan servers as well. So this is a non-issue for Blizzard.

I can see the next headline already:

"China blocks Taiwan WoW servers"

Think Blizzard might be regretting dumping The9, oddly GAPP had no issues when they were running WoW and now after Blizzard has made even more changes to appease GAPP its still banned.

Strange that, um, think The9 might have some people in high places?

Having the Chinese removed from the WoW gold-farming business is truly good news.  Win/Win situation.

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Originally posted by Dibdabs
Having the Chinese removed from the WoW gold-farming business is truly good news.  Win/Win situation.

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 See, thats what happens when you repeat gank what you think is a low level newbie and they turn out to be a Chinese goverment official!

OK so WTF up with this China hate towards WoW?

Seems like the age long Nintendo vs SONY crap all over again.

Yawn..   Wow will still be here .. its not going anywhere...

Originally posted by Zeblade

Yawn..   Wow will still be here .. its not going anywhere...

Here as in NA/EU but it looks as if its taking a long vacation in China which is sad really bcause the gamers are the ones being hurt the most. Someone mentioned chinese players being able to play on Taiwan servers but until I see that in ink then I am going to take it as just an asumption on their part.

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Originally posted by SaintViktor

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Originally posted by Zeblade

Yawn..   Wow will still be here .. its not going anywhere...

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Here as in NA/EU but it looks as if its taking a long vacation in China which is sad really bcause the gamers are the ones being hurt the most. Someone mentioned chinese players being able to play on Taiwan servers but until I see that in ink then I am going to take it as just an asumption on their part.

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Also whats so hard to believe that Chinese players are moving to the Taiwan servers?

http://www.jlmpacificepoch.com/newsstories?id=148976_0_5_0_M

Wonder why so many people are jumping to reassure themselves this means nothing... Yes, western players are unlikely to be affected at all because of this, and yes, this probably doesnt mean a catastrophe for Activision-Blizzards earnings. I saw neither the OP nor anyone else making such claims.

China is so weird.

.

 Doesn't China represent around 4 million subscribers to WoW? or was it Asia in general?

PROTIP: China has lots of "tanks" and carry LOTS of "aggro" as you can see by this total zone aggro. I can almost hear the guy yelling in EQ fashion "TRAIN INC! ZONE OR DIE! I GOT THESE F'ERS" Those who Tank in WoW, need to take lessons here for aggro control.

**On a more serious note though, the image for those who don't know is one of many that's always stuck with me from the "Tiananmen-square incident/massacre". If you've seen the video for this and live in a free country, it's hard to fathom how enormous this mans balls are for stopping in front of a line of tanks (I counted around 15ish+?) If you can find the video, the lead tank attempts to move around him and he runs back into the tanks path multiple times.**

My point is, regarding history to present, I'm surprised that they allow actual physical connection to the internet outside of their country at all for civilian use, when compared to what we "know" about the past events.

But from what I gathered, their "official stance" on banning games of the kind/genre are because of the forming of "gangs"/guilds in the game,  *because they "advocate obscenity, gambling, or violence" and "undermine morality and Chinese traditional culture." (* from www.gamespot.com/news/6214322.html) If I were to take a guess though... WoW is too big for its britches in China, and the govt. doesn't want the younger generations to band together en masse, playing a westernized game with potentially damaging ideas that might undermine their govt. I could be totally off base though.

Maybe a high lvl official got ganked and corpsecamped... *shrug* who knows.

WoW has too much western culture for the stiff necks.  Its like McDonalds in France.  Lots of people want it, but some people in power want to ban it.