This could well be the biggest news on Planet Earth today. World of Warcraft is coming back to China, nearly two months after having been knocked offline because of a content dispute. Fox News Alert!
So here’s what happened. As you know, World of Warcraft has been offline in China for about six weeks now because Blizzard switched local operators (games made by foreign companies need to be run by local operators in China), and the new operator had a tough time convincing authorities at the Ministry of Culture that the game was good to go. Everything is now great, but there’s a few catches.
Only existing World of Warcraft players will be allowed to re-up (for now). And even then, Blizzard and NetEase, the new local operator, will have to make some sort of content modification. What content? Who knows. I don’t recall seeing the Orcs or Humans proclaim their love for Taiwan or anything.
Our long international nightmare is almost over. I, for one, am relieved.