Slashdot Mirror
On Chinese Internet Cafes, MMORPGs, World Of Warcraft
Thanks to Always On Network for its analysis of China's MMORPG-hungry Internet cafe denizens. According to the piece: "Pacific Epoch estimates that of the U.S. $2 billion-plus that online gaming will generate in China this year, about $1.2 billion will flow through internet cafe coffers." However, since "China is growing so fast and its citizens are becoming wealthier", changes are in motion: "One internet cafe owner explained that SARS prompted a large number of newly wealthy Chinese to go out and buy computers... [and many] don't play games at the internet cafes anymore because they can now do so in the comfort of their own homes." Blizzard's ravenously-awaited World Of Warcraft is now hoped to revitalize the Chinese online gaming scene: "Although never officially announced, [Chinese online company] The9 is rumored to have paid up to U.S. $12 million for the right to operate WoW in China."
The price will be WAAAY cheaper, speaking from experience. (I live in China)
Legit copies of games in China are dirt cheap by US standards. You take the price in US$ and divide it by 4-8 and you'll be looking at the average price of a game in China.
(e.g a game that costs US$50 in the US will be US$12.50-6.25 in China)
Of course, the game will be in Chinese.
It provides less incentive for people to buy the pirated copies.
My guess is that the MMORPG subscription fees will fall accordingly.
As for censorship? They didn't censor Warcraft III, why do it with this?
I can't WAIT for World Of Warcraft to come out in China. I'm no racist, but I'm absolutely sick of the Chinese players farming for money to sell on the web that are plaguing Final Fantasy XI right now. I hope they decide to move on to bigger and better things and leave our servers alone.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
I have played many bnet games and am now in the WOW beta. All I can say is if Blizzard has the kind of CS policies that have plagued their other games WOW will be an unmitigated disaster. Of course the standard arguement is since players will be paying a monthly fee for WOW, you won't see the utter lack of interest and bug fixing/patching that Blizzard has shown on their free bnet titles like Diablo 2 - but all we can go on is their past performance. Right now I'm not holding my breath. They need to a) ban ebay sales immediately and threaten account removal for them, and b) make and enforce area-specific servers. No asians on NA servers, and vice versa. I really hope this all works out as the game itself is terrific.