Burning Crusade Now Available in China
World of Warcraft players in China are one step closer to getting caught up with the US and Europe.
Despite World of Warcraft’s huge popularity in China, publisher NetEase has had trouble getting content in The Burning Crusade approved for Chinese audiences. Some of the images and quests in the first expansion pack for WoW were deemed inappropriate by the General Application of Press and Publication (GAPP) and Ministry of Culture (MoC). For months, a legal battle ensued between the publisher and these parties, eventually resulting in a freeze on NetEase’s right to accept new subscriptions for WoW at all. Accounts are finally available again, along with the expansion pack.
The Burning Crusade was actually available for Chinese players back when The9 published the game there. However, once NetEase took over, content had to be reapproved, and The Burning Crusade didn’t make the cut. It’s worth noting that vanilla WoW has a few slight differences in China, made to appease the GAPP and MoC’s strict tendencies; for example, killing another player results in a neat little gravesite, as opposed to a rotting skeleton. At this time, it’s unclear whether The Burning Crusade was approved as is, or if similar changes had to be made to get the content through. Either way, let’s hope that China can get caught up by the time Cataclysm launches!
