Warcraft Spreads Past Bamboo Curtain
1.5 million Chinese gamers can't be wrong.
Blizzard's massively multiplayer online RPG World of Warcraft has been an enormous success in the West, with more than 2 million people giving up their real lives to live out virtual ones since the game launched late last year. But it's the game's debut in China that is now turning heads.
More than 1.5 million Chinese gamers have taken up residence in the game world during the 43 days since World of Warcraft swung open its doors. This brings the worldwide subscriber count to 3.5 million and, according to Blizzard, makes World of Warcraft the most popular online game of all time.
Cracking the Chinese market has not been without its problems for Blizzard, but the uptake of World of Warcraft was made considerably easier by the company's willingness to work with Chinese portal The9, which made sure that gamers in China got good local support from people who known what they're doing.
China is a rapidly growing market for game companies, especially those that make online games.
Despite strict regulation by the communist national government, China is home to more than 350,000 Internet cafes and online gaming contributes more to the national economy than China's movie industry.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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