Previously, I made mention of how Blizzard's World of Warcraft expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King, has hit a few potholes in its attempt to be brought to China. The9, the company who handles World of Warcraft, is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy because the game has been rejected a number of times, due to depictions of skeletons and a "city raid" (both of which, apparently, would cause...something, in China. Your guess is as good as mine).Well, there's been a bit of an update.
Rumormongering
Though it seems to be a rumor at this point, given the direction things are going in China with World of Warcraft, I honestly would not be surprised.
WoW Insider reports that The9 may very well lose the license to handle WoW in China and the
company Netease may take it up. What's even more painful? Netease, apparently, will have to pay around $22 million for the license, while The9 had to pay $73 million. Quite the slap in the face.Easy Fix
The author of the article, Mike Schramm, mentions that the handing over of the license to Netease (or, perhaps, some other company) may help Chinese players get WotLK that much
faster. That is a possibility, but at the same time, one has to wonder just how much did The9 had a hand in WotLK getting rejected for release. Although little has been released, from what I've been able to gather, they edited what they could and changed things around in several dire attempts to get it passed. What could Netease do that The9 didn't?Time will tell.
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