Legal Niches

China Decision on WoW Coming Soon

By John Keefer

It appears that China's feuding regulation agencies may have made peace that could lead to gamers in the country being able to play World of Warcraft again.

According to a brief item in JLC Pacific Epoch, China's General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) and the Ministry of Culture have come to an agreement about whether NetEase has been illegally operating its license for the MMORPG World of Warcraft. According to "an unnamed insider." the two sides apparently have agreed that regulations were broken, as the story says that a "punishment" will be announced in mid-January.

It remains to be seen what the punishment will be, but at least a decision appears close. The case has been in limbo since mid-September after GAPP told NetEase to stop charging for new WoW accounts and halted its review of an application by NetEase to allow players to play the WoW expansion, The Burning Crusade.

If the sanctions stop short of completely shutting down NetEase in China for its "illegal" activity, it could pave the way for resumption of gameplay on NetEase servers when the sanctions are lifted. If GAPP and the MoC go so far as to ban NetEase from operations, WoW parent Blizzard Entertainment may be forced to find another company in good standing to operate its WoW servers in China.

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on January 04, 2010 (boomark / email).