Blizzard Accused of Illegal Joint Venture in ChinaJul 16th, 2009 at 4:02 PM by Togikagi

According to an article on MMOsite, Blizzard is suspected of entering an illegal joint venture with NetEase when it gave the company the rights to operate World of Warcraft in China after the contract with The9 expired. It appears the Shanghai News and Publication Bureau has been assigned to investigate the issue to see if Blizzard is violating Chinese regulations.

The article states that under Chinese law, foreign enterprises are not allowed to operate online games in the Chinese market in the form of a wholly owned company or a joint venture. Apparently there are concerns over how NetEase obtained the operating rights for WoW — the article says NetEase paid a high revenue share to Blizzard, which will quadruple the gains of Blizzard compared to the gains obtained from cooperating with The9.

The author of the article suspects the approval of the transition of the operating rights will be suspended before the investigation is completed. We'll have to wait and see what the future has in store for WoW in China.

Tags: News, WorldofWarcraft

Comments

Post Comment
Just my 2cents
QuoteReply
# Jul 19 2009 at 6:02 AM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1618792175312
21 posts
Regarding what Bokgo says about the goldfarmers being on US/EU servers is true... but shutting down WoW in China would stop them from being able to log on (no matter the server) as China strictly moderates/controls online gaming over the internet from everything that I have read.
▲ Page top
Re: Does this mean
QuoteReply
# Jul 17 2009 at 2:22 PM Rating: Good
Wondroustremor
View User Forum
Sage
****
5,103 posts
Apparently, goldsellers don't need to advertise when they have idiots that post their website for them. Arkfeld, take the goldseller name out of your post... /facepalm.
____________________________
Longtail | Evilynne | Maevene | Kornakk | Steelbelly
▲ Page top
We know what's really going on...
QuoteReply
# Jul 17 2009 at 10:00 AM Rating: Good
__DEL__1592761567391
Scholar
*
132 posts
The government officials are just like every other official - they're looking for a bribe. They see a cash cow in this game, so they want their piece of the pie.
▲ Page top
We know what's really going on...
QuoteReply
# Jul 17 2009 at 12:19 PM Rating: Good
__DEL__1627258875729
Sage
***
1,882 posts
Mmm...pie.
▲ Page top
China
QuoteReply
# Jul 17 2009 at 8:22 AM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1596385340630
Scholar
*
105 posts
They should just pull out of China and put their servers in South Korea or Japan.

That way they can keep their customers and not have to put up with as much of the laws China has. Plus they can handle the game by themselves after that.
▲ Page top
Agreed
QuoteReply
# Jul 17 2009 at 6:33 AM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1592343758657
*
90 posts
My hope is Bliz has to pull out of China... no WoW. Then if they can just remove Korea as well...
Sure would remove a lot of the spam :)
▲ Page top
Agreed
QuoteReply
# Jul 17 2009 at 12:14 PM Rating: Good
__DEL__1622420402685
Scholar
*****
19,369 posts
ScubaShark wrote:
My hope is Bliz has to pull out of China... no WoW. Then if they can just remove Korea as well...
Sure would remove a lot of the spam :)


I seriously hope you're joking. Pulling out of countries like China and Korea is not going to remove spam.
▲ Page top
Agreed
QuoteReply
# Jul 17 2009 at 11:09 PM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1591967565047
21 posts
lol yea I dont think people get the fact they are playing on US/Euro servers in 1st place they arn't playing the China version to farm the gold. So if they stop the China WoW it dont change the farmers none they already play on US/Euro servers
▲ Page top
-.-
QuoteReply
# Jul 17 2009 at 4:10 AM Rating: Default
__DEL__1592278031011
**
611 posts
oh dear - they just arrested some people for a suspected iron ore-Rio Tinto scandal aswell recently.

What are they playing at?


▲ Page top
Do what they do for everyone else...
QuoteReply
# Jul 17 2009 at 12:58 AM Rating: Good
__DEL__1627258875729
Sage
***
1,882 posts
Give all the government officials a free day. I'm sure that they'll be overjoyed and forget all about these silly little law infringements.

It works for us Americans, Europeans, and Aussies when Blizzard does something bad...! :-\
▲ Page top
#REDACTED, Posted: Jul 16 2009 at 7:24 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) we'll finally see an end to susanexpress.com and the barrage of spam they generate ?
hah
QuoteReply
# Jul 16 2009 at 5:46 PM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1591802437908
Scholar
***
2,047 posts
For how many members WoW has in China, there will be a lot of angry people if wow loses rights there for even a short period. It will be tough to fight them on this.
▲ Page top
Post Comment

Free account required to post

You must log in or create an account to post messages.
© 2024 Fanbyte LLC