Asia Makes UO2, You Can't Have It, But They Can Have WoW Again

Apparently, EA isn’t just bringing a simple localized version of UO to the Chinese market, but making a new MMO using the UO “license”.

Hong Kong-based NetDragon Websoft will develop the massively multiplayer online game — where thousands or millions of players play simultaneously in a virtual world — in conjunction with EA’s Mythic Entertainment division. NetDragon Websoft will have the exclusive license to operate the game in China, Hong Kong, Macau and India.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government has approved the release of Wrath of the Lich King and provisionally allowed NetEase to relaunch the game after a long downtime which caused some discontent!

Thousands of anxious gamers who have been missing the game are expected to gather at today’s opening of Chinajoy, an online game carnival in Shanghai, to demand the game be made available again, the Southern Weekly reported last Saturday.

“As a large consumption group, we at least have the right to know when will the game be re-opened or will it be re-booted,” the newspaper quoted a WoW fan, named Laode, as saying.

WoW fans vented their anger by logging on to servers belonging to Netease on July 11. After 5,000 signed on at the same time, they succeeded in paralyzing seven servers.

WoW players also left nearly 3,000 complaints on the official website of China Consumers’ Association and some players said they planned to sue.

So, for those keeping track: protesting racial inequality in Xinjiang is bad, protesting talent spec inequality in Wintergrasp is fine.

However, everything seems to be back on track now, thus showing that the appropriate palms were greased that Blizzard and NetEase showed the appropriate awareness of socialist norms and morals.