Who didn't see this coming? Eight months ago, Trion Worlds and CJ E&M Games announced that they would be bringing Rift to South Korea, and today an even bigger domino falls in that key Asian demographic. Just now, Trion Worlds has announced that they will be partnering up with Chinese publisher Shanda Games in order to bring Rift to China.

Alongside Trion's announced $85 million secured in new funding (announced last month), we may see this award-winning MMO gaining significant traction in 2012 and beyond.