“Shanghai-based The9.com, winner of last year’s bidding war among Chinese game operators vying for the right to bring Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft to the growing market of online gamers in China, today launched the localized version of the hugely successful massively multiplayer role-playing game in its home market. Indications are that the China launch could be as successful as what Blizzard has already experienced in this market: The open beta of the game, live since April 26 of this year, has seen periods where more than 500,000 players have been online concurrently. In a statement, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime today said, “We feel that China offers a huge and eager audience, and it is poised to become the next great region in gaming.”" The9 is certainly hoping to be the beneficiary of that growth. The company competed vigorously with the larger and more experienced online game operator Shanda for the right to bring WOW to China. To facilitate the capital expenses required to support the product, the company went public on the NASDAQ in December of 2004 and devoted itself to this day for more than a year–adding to staff and beefing up the infrastructure required to support the game. As the revenue stream for World of Warcraft in China builds, The9 hopes to see a reversal in its financial fortunes: Last month the company reported results for the quarter ending March 31, 2005, with a quarter-on-quarter decrease to its bottom line of almost 25 percent (on revenues that increased almost 45 percent). Contributing to the losses were expenses related to the WOW launch, which the company says were wholly justified. In a statement released last month, the company said, “”We strongly believe that investment of significant resources in the initial stage of a game cycle is critical, and benefits of such investment will prove to be advantageous in the long run.”" But the company knows the battle for profit is no sure thing.
In that same statement, the company admitted that even with the powerful reputation of World of Warcraft behind it, Chinese gamers have yet to show a sustained interest in 3D gaming, preferring instead the worlds of 2D gaming. “”We continue to believe that MMORPG is a major revenue-generating segment in the China online game market,”" The9.com said in the statement, adding, “”We note that China’s online game market is currently undergoing a major transition from 2D MMORPGs to 3D MMORPGs.”" Can WOW fuel that transition. The9.com hopes so, saying it is “”well prepared”" and that “”WOW, to the Chinese online game players, is just the beginning.”" ” “Many in the game industry consider China to be the ultimate prize in the massively multiplayer online role-playing-game market. Today, the public got some proof why. Blizzard Entertainment announced that, less than a week after it launched its überpopular World of Warcraft in China, the game’s worldwide subscriber base has surpassed two million. The figure marks an increase of over 500,000 subscribers since mid-March, when World of Warcraft was already the fastest-growing MMORPG in North America, Europe, Korea, and Oceania. wow gold China contributed many more subscribers, with anticipation for WoW was extremely high in the country. That enthusiasm hasn’t diminished now that the game has been released. According to Blizzard, the beta test of the Chinese WoW localization saw 500,000 players online concurrently–roughly the same peak-number figures for North America, Europe, and Oceania combined. wow gold “”World of Warcraft continues to surpass all expectations as gamers around the world embrace it with overwhelming support,”" said Blizzard president and cofounder Mike Morhaime. “”We want to thank our players for their incredible response, and we promise to continue supporting World of Warcraft with more updates and content.”" Although already hugely popular, World of Warcraft recently got some new content in the form of two battlegrounds, Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch, and a new player-versus-player (PvP) honor system.
For more on the original World of Warcraft–which was named GameSpot’s 2004 Game of the Year–read the full review. wow ” “Given the increasing popularity of World of Warcraft–which reached the 2 million subscriber milestone last week–it was only a matter of time until it got an expansion pack. However, developer and publisher Blizzard Entertainment has remained mum on matters of an add-on for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game. There was some speculation that the silence was because a large number of designers assigned to the project had left Blizzard for NCsoft, stymieing work on the project. wow gold Others pointed to the numerous new job openings listed on Blizzard’s Web site as evidence the company was just starting to ramp up work on the project. However, it was only today that Blizzard made it official–or one of its employees did anyway. On the official World of Warcraft forums, Shane Dabiri, lead producer of the World of Warcraft development team, posted a lengthy message titled “”World of Warcraft Battleplan.”" Besides outlining increased customer service, the addition of servers, and gameplay additions, Dabiri’s post also addressed the $64,000 question. mp3 player “”Some have asked about an expansion and what it might hold,”" he said. “”I wanted to let players know that it is in the works, and we’ll release details as soon as we can.”" Unfortunately for PC gamers, that’s all Dabiri said regarding an expansion, and Blizzard officials contacted by GameSpot had offered no further comments as of press time.RELATED LINKS:
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