Rumor: The9 to lose WoW in China
by Zach Yonzon 
Mar 24th 2009 at 2:00PM
An insider source, however, noted otherwise. Blizzard is said to have been unhappy with The9's performance over the past four years, and posed higher requirements in their renegotiation with the Chinese company. Recent troubles with the Chinese government in securing approval for Wrath of the Lich King hasn't helped matters, and The9 is facing bankruptcy should Wrath fail to get past China's censorship laws and negotiations fall apart. The online game operator gets 90 percent of their profits from managing World of Warcraft in China. The9 has refused to comment, only saying that negotiations have not been finalized.
Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Shulkman Mar 24th 2009 2:07PM
Maybe if The9 loses it, Blizzard can just shut down access from any chinese IP's and we can stop getting quite so much spam.
wordsofivory Mar 24th 2009 2:27PM
Yes, lets block millions (yes, millions) of valid Chinese gamers from playing the game just to stop a few thousand (yes, only a few thousand) gold farmers.
An ironic choice of action to suggest, considering how people usually complain about China's supposedly imperialistic mindset.
If you can't beat them, join them?
Hypocrites.
I don't know what it's like on your server, but I see maybe 2 or 3 spam messages a week. Compared to some games and compared to how it was in WoW a few years ago, that's a blessing.
Hendrata Mar 24th 2009 6:44PM
You do know that Chinese servers and US servers are all separate don't you? They have completely different payment system and games, and one can't transfer from a US server to a Chinese server or vice versa. So, no.... removing WoW China won't stop Chinese gold sellers because they all play on US servers
FantomRedux Mar 24th 2009 4:31PM
OK what he was saying, and this applies to both of you, is if The9 loses the rights to manage WoW over in China and Blizzard don't do it themselves, Blizzard could block any access to the EU/US servers.
And Hendrata, that's like pointing out that the EU servers are seperate from the US ones. You can access the US servers in the EU and vice-versa, and assuming its not blocked out, you can access the Chinese servers anywhere else. The only way to stop gold farmers who are _*Located IN China*_ would be to block all access to EU/US WoW servers from China. There would be no reason for this too be a problem to players who abide by the rules anyway so I don't get why this hasn't actually happened unless its a logistical type thing.
Andrew Mar 24th 2009 4:41PM
Banning Chinese players might be "isolationist," not "imperialist." But neither one really applies.
LC Mar 27th 2009 12:44PM
It's useless if you just try to shut down the server or block Chinese Ip. Cuz US server is open to oversea. If not, we can use a tool which called Proxy~~ Sorry about that.
Plastic Rat Mar 24th 2009 10:29PM
Hey woah! No no no... I LIVE in China. I can't read or speak Chinese well enough yet to play on a Chinese server, so I play on the US ones.
There are actually a number of us who live in countries where we don't speak the native language fluently and want to play on the US servers.
It really REALLY pisses me off when companies delegate what servers I can play on based on my location/IP. No thanks, this kind of thinking needs a smack upside the head.
Cyanea Mar 24th 2009 2:13PM
I know all the characters in the picture but the fourth one. What's it mean?
InsaneAssault Mar 24th 2009 2:23PM
Sounds like 'nun' - means something like 'able'.
Freedomfighter Mar 24th 2009 2:38PM
能
neng2
able, capable (though slightly different connotation than the English words)
http://zhongwen.com/d/175/x224.htm
Cyanea Mar 24th 2009 4:22PM
Thanks. :D
(Chinese 102 student)
Bloodangelz Mar 24th 2009 2:15PM
At this point, The9 should be shut down. Wrait was suppose to be release about 2 months ago in Mainland China and I would suspect with all the finacial problems the company has faced, that they haven't been putting up much of an effort to get Lich King working on all the chinese players computers. One they have to realize is Blizz Doesn't need The9, they will just get another company to handle Wow if they dont' choose to just do it all themselves. The9 needs Blizzard and Wow to stay alive.
Arathanar Mar 24th 2009 3:36PM
Bloodangelz, the problem is that the Chinese government has comparatively much higher censorship laws governing bones, gore, blood, and other things that have had limited appearance in World of Warcraft.
Wrath is about reanimated corpses.
See the problem?
shisho2k Mar 24th 2009 4:40PM
That's interesting. Bones, that's just priceless. What do they think about X-Rays?
Lycanthro Mar 24th 2009 2:17PM
I know Kevin's comment is facetious but I've seen a bunch of comments on these posts about gold and whatnot. I don't understand how hard it is for people to comprehend that regional servers are all kept separate, people don't farm gold to sell on US servers on Chinese servers. US copies of the game are bought and that's what it's played on at the gold farms. Even if Blizz did block all Chinese IP's from accessing US servers it could be easily spoofed or rerouted. They've put fourth their best efforts but the people you should be complaining to are your fellow players who buy gold and powerleveling services. If nobody was paying they surely wouldn't be selling it.
seanfury Mar 24th 2009 2:18PM
NO WOW IN CHINA = WE GET PANDARENS
MAKE IT HAPPEN
Spicyness Mar 24th 2009 2:37PM
OMG AGREE!!!
Kassu Mar 24th 2009 4:35PM
^THIS!
Zamboni Mar 24th 2009 4:48PM
A DK Pandaren should really send their censorship bureau for a loop.
Suzaku Mar 25th 2009 12:24AM
There's no law against pandaren in China, stupid rumor needs to be squashed. China's most popular MMORPG, Perfect World, has panda-people, as one of the subtypes of the Untamed Barbarian race/class combo.