Mar/100
Blizzard and The9 fined $212,000 for copyright infringement in China
From Worlds in Motion we've learned that Blizzard has suffered yet another setback in China. As reported by JLM Pacific Epoch , the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court has found that The9, Blizzard's onetime partner in China violated the copyrights of five Chinese fonts owned by Founder Technology Group.
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Blizzard and The9 fined $212,000 for copyright infringement in China
Feb/100
Burning Crusade approved in China
NetEase is finally approved to release the Burning Crusade in China, which probably means that they are accepting new accounts again. This is months after being caught in the crossfire between the quarreling GAPP (General Administration of Press and Publications) and MoC (Ministry of Culture) over NetEase's rights to operate WoW at all. Now that they are only one expansion behind and with Cataclysm set for the latter half of this year, this gives NetEase time to get Wrath of the Lich King approved before they fall behind yet another expansion
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Burning Crusade approved in China
Feb/100
No new WoW accounts in China
Reuters reports that Netease, the company that operates WoW in China, has stopped accepting new accounts and has reapplied to GAPP (General Administration of Press and Publication) for permission to release The Burning Crusade . The article does not mention if this was voluntary, or if this was part of the ruling that was scheduled to be handed down in January
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No new WoW accounts in China
Jan/100
Hellgate: London Returning To North America/Europe
After the collapse of Flagship Studios in late 2008, the company’s pseudo-MMOG Hellgate: London had its servers shutdown by Namco-Bandai in February 2009. HanbitSoft, the game’s Korean publisher, continued to run the game in Korea under the free-to-play model, later purchasing the intellectual property outright.
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Hellgate: London Returning To North America/Europe
Dec/090
Joystiq talks to Frank Pearce about the past and future of Warcraft
Our friend Kevin Kelly over at the Joystiq mothership got a chance to talk to Frank Pearce at Blizzard about the Warcraft anniversary, and he did us proud. Not only did Frank Pearce do some nice reminiscing about Blizzard, where they've come from, and how the massive World of Warcraft undertaking has changed them as a company (they've gone from 500 employees to about 4,000 in just the last five years), but he also touched on some issues we've really been wondering about over here at WoW.com as well.
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Joystiq talks to Frank Pearce about the past and future of Warcraft
Nov/090
The 9 revenues drop by 94% after losing WoW
Former World of Warcraft distributor in China The9 recently reported on their third quarter revenues which showed a massive 94% drop Year Over Year . Their revenues were posted at $3.7 million, a significant drop from their second quarter revenue which was pegged at $42.2 million (while they still held the license). Last year, The9 reported revenues of $59.8 million
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The 9 revenues drop by 94% after losing WoW
Nov/090
Activision-Blizzard makes lots of money, no update on Blizzard earnings
Activision-Blizzard has released their third-quarter numbers for the financial year of 2009, and as you might expect for the company in charge of Call of Duty , Guitar Hero , and World of Warcraft , business is brisk. They were expecting to bring in around $700 million, and ended up pulling in around $50 million more than that. It's good, we guess, to be the king.
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Activision-Blizzard makes lots of money, no update on Blizzard earnings
Sep/090
Is WoW’s audience still increasing?
I'm not sure how much of this is legit, but stick with us for the information first, and then stay for the debunking. Edward Hunter over at Gamasutra decided to do some poking around in comScore's MediaMetrix application (which can track, based on a survey of a few million users, access to various applications on a computer -- which programs are run when), and he found something that surprised him: despite the economic downturn and the emergence of a few other popular MMOs recently, World of Warcraft 's audience is estimated globally at 13.1 million.
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Is WoW's audience still increasing?
Aug/090
Chinese WoW partial relaunch pics, comparison shots of censorship
MMOsite.com has nabbed some pictures of the return to the Chinese World of Warcraft . As you know if you've been paying attention, the game has been offline over there for a few months now, but the game just recently got approved to go back online, and so they're in the middle of a "partial relaunch" (which I believe is taking the form of a closed beta) and the servers are crowding up again. As you can see, there's a stampede ( much like ours ) going on in Thunder Bluff -- looks like players are happy to be online again.
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Chinese WoW partial relaunch pics, comparison shots of censorship
Aug/090
mMO’ MONEY!: What MMO Would You Subscribe A Lifetime To?
Lifetime; such a strong combinations of words to put together, also has a powerful impact in marketing campaigns. In light of Cryptic Studios releasing the pricing options for Champions Online this fall, I have to admit that lifetime subscriptions are an attractive option.
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mMO’ MONEY!: What MMO Would You Subscribe A Lifetime To?