China's The9 faces bankruptcy if Wrath expansion not approved by government
by James Egan 
Mar 13th 2009 at 5:00PM
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business models, Expansions, MMO industry, News items
We reported the other day on the issues that The9 is having with getting the Wrath of the Lich King expansion released in China. The government is unwilling to approve the World of Warcraft expansion, citing 'health' and decency concerns about the game's content. The9 is the licensed operator of World of Warcraft in China, and the company paid a significant amount in licensing fees to Blizzard Entertainment in April of 2008 to secure the rights to operate Wrath, according to Shanghai-based JLM Pacific Epoch.
Although the Chinese regulatory body, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), is chiefly concerned with removing "unhealthy" content from the game, their stance could prove disastrous for The9. If GAPP doesn't green light the Wrath of the Lich King expansion in China, The9 will not be able to recoup their losses and may face bankruptcy.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Takk said on 5:21PM 3-13-2009
Let the regulators feel the Wrath of the Jilted WoW fanbase! This is an interesting illustration of how important cultural norms (or at least norms as represented by an authoritarian government) can be.
I doubt this will imact Chinese gold farmers. I suspect gold farmers of all origins use the localized versions of the game for the markets they wish to sell to.
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mandrill said on 5:57PM 3-13-2009
I'm willing to bet good money that some official in the monolithic chinese bureaucracy is fishing for a backhander, its how things are done out there and WoW is a lucrative target. Just watch this furore disappear quietly as brown envelopes change hands in smoky rooms.
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snowleopard233 said on 6:21PM 3-13-2009
I'm kind of feeling like that's what's going to happen as well. So many enterprises are integrated unofficially with the CCP based on the fact that system is so corrupt.
Just wish people would stop bringing gold farmers into this. In no way are they going to be affected by any of this as they run on the US client.
Furthermore, if people don't want gold farmers, tell your friends and guild mates not to buy gold. You can't blame people for taking advantage of a system that allows them to sell fake video game money to lazy people overseas for cold hard cash when they need to feed their impoverished families at home.
You can blame that lazy gamer who's supporting a system that's against the rules.
Spenser said on 6:28PM 3-13-2009
Super frustrating.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Chinese players hold strong positions in many eSports arenas? Interested in how these people are effected.
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Henry said on 6:58PM 3-13-2009
Wow, isn't The9 the biggest publisher in China?
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PeterD said on 7:16PM 3-13-2009
Be kind of funny if this happened and WoW's subscription numbers suddenly tanked from 11 million to 4-5 million as a result. I imagine we wouldn't get any of Blizzard's self aggrandizing subscription number press releases for a good long time . . .
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Quinnae said on 9:04PM 3-13-2009
I do hope that this matter gets resolved ASAP. It's also true that this will in no way have an effect on gold farmers and spammers. Remember that WoW is playable without any of the expansions. You can get a spam account by just buying the now relatively cheap vanilla version of the game.
At any rate, what the Chinese government is doing is nothing short of shameful. However, while I would contend that corruption is indeed a way of life, that exists more at local and regional offices which are under less direct oversight. The9 is going up against a federal regulator.
While I would not be so naive to say that corruption never happens at that level, it's less likely. The CCP values the control they have over things like this. When they start carving out exceptions based on bribes they're weakening their stranglehold on "Chinese values." Their ability to block games on this basis (among other things) is treasured.
We'll just see what happens. My best to our Chinese comrades in gaming!
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aleshia said on 11:31PM 3-13-2009
Oh, my poor WoW. Living in China now , I has been waiting Lich king Release for nearly 4 months. The only onr thing we could do is that check the latest WoW patch 3.1 notes and criticize (in fact, they are calling bad names) the censorship.
But to The 9, they wont go bankrupt, I believe. cuz they are also operating many other games like FIFA and may operate WAR in the near future. Lose Lich King, they wont lose much, cuz we can still play in the TBC, but losing WoW will be a huge hit to them
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