World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King has encountered some bureaucratic stumbling blocks on its way to the lucrative Chinese market.
JLM Pacific Epoch reports that WLK has been rejected twice by Chinese regulatory officials:
The applications were rejected due to content that didn't meet requirements, including a city raid and skeleton characters; the submitted version did not contain WLK's Death Knight first hero class, said the insider.
WoW game developer Blizzard Entertainment recently deleted a link on the game's North American site to the site's simplified Chinese version, said the report.
And, as Massively notes:
World of Warcraft has undergone changes specific to the Chinese market in the past, namely removing skeletons altogether in order to receive approval to operate the game in mainland China.
Comments
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the Lich
That "city raid" will probably be the Culling of Stratholme event in Caverns of Time.
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the Lich
Skeletons aside, I wonder why a city raid would be involved in this round. The raid targets have been there since launch, is it only that it's a specific goal with rewards for completing, and not just a late night passtime for raiding guilds?
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the Lich
Probably.. having the freedom to run around and lay waste to cities wasn't an official goal or reward-bearing event. Even then, it was probably inching towards "red flag" (no pun intended) territory. Now, it's more akin to breaking into a full sprint.. can't have the youngsters putting thoughts of tiananmen-style rebellion together with city raid coordination, can we?
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Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the Lich
So does this mean they didnt have a Dub of Evil Dead in China?
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"Don't Run, You'll Just Die Tired."
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the ...
Just one more reason I'm glad I live the US
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the Lich
While I am too pissed off at this ,the WoW logo looks badass in that writing.
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the ...
How do you get rid of skeletons in something named after a Lich?
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the ...
You can't and that is why they banned the whole expansion.
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Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the ...
I wonder why they don't even have info about the Chinese version of WoW, period, on their site anymore? Maybe they decided to stop bothering?
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the Lich
China: Trying to conquer the world one day at a time. First that U.S. ship they claim was in their waters (they think they own the whole fucking Pacific), silencing the people of Tibet on the 50th anniversary of them being douchebags, and now this.
When Jack Thompson runs his mouth, does anyone really care what he has to say anymore?
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the Lich
@ Michael Chandra
oh, let's not forget about the genocide in Tibet, and how the government kidnapped Falu Gong Practioner by killing them and harvested and selling the organ to the black market. Let's also not forget they send some of their "hardware" to Sudan to help with more killing in Darfur. Last but not least:
-they ban Command & Conquer: Generals (like that game a lot), just because it has China in there. So how come USA hasn't complained about the game (I know US made it).
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the Lich
Don't forget the 1200 people still missing after the riots a while ago. (How long ago was that, before the Olympics?)
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the ...
The Chinese have always been against the representation of skeletons or undead in media (probably has to do with ancestor worship or something).
I remember that, mabye as early as 10 years ago, Magic: The Gathering cards released in China had alternate artwork. (http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/16527_Insider_Trading_8_Foreign_... -scroll down to #6)
There was an interesting article on this, with comparisons, on the WotC site, but I can't find it anymore.
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the ...
I remember a news post somewhere - I think GP covered it - about Japan not allowing Dead Space due to the use of 'spirits' and ghosts in the game, but that turned out to be fake, possibly made up by someone in marketing or fabricated somehow.
Likewise, this incident with WOTLK can't be a cultural decision, surely? There were skeletons in the original game but apparently they were removed, in which case what on earth were they replaced with? Ghouls? Generic humans?
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the ...
Skeletons.
FUCKING SKELETONS.
WHO WOULD BAN SKELETONS?
I HAVEN'T HEARD ANY CENSORSHIP OF SKELETONS.
This had better be some "gold farming block" disguised as a "censorship content", because I will give up on China if this is not the case.
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Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the ...
WHO WOULD BAN SKELETONS?
The Chinese, obviously. The visible bones of undead player characters have already been removed from Chinese versions of the game on its original release, so this isn't all that surprising. It all comes down to cultural differences. I'm German, our politicians ban violence and swastikas, whereas the US has issues with nudity and views on gun laws that appear downright bizarre to me. The Chinese have issues with skeletons, so they ban that - in the end, it's the same everywhere.
Re: Chinese Govt. Blocking Release of WoW: Wrath of the Lich
This is probably either ;
A) China's usual pattern; the govt. posses every last bit of power to be had in the country, and if the citizens disagree with it's decisions, jail/execution time!
B) An actual effort to fight gold farming?