Considering World of Warcraft’s Mists of Pandaria expansion is appears to be a big “Will you go out with me” to the Chinese market from Blizzard, the mega publisher must be breathing a sigh of relief that the Chinese government has said yes.
According to The Chicago Tribune, the Chinese internet user base is the world’s largest, weighing in at 540 million. With 60% of those playing internet games that’s a potential324,000,000 new World of Warcraft subscribers. And just wait till that other 460 million get connected. No, Blizzard won’t convince all those folk to pay a monthly tithe but the amount of effort they’ve been putting into courting the Asian market reveals something of the fiscal return they see in the region.
The news came through earlier today on the ChineseMinistryof Culture’s websitethat the game had received approval (and I can’t tell you how happy I am that Google Translate turns
魔兽世界：熊猫人之谜 into World of Warcraft: Panda Man of Mystery).
Although World of Warcraft is coming out in the West on the 25th September, with launch parties and everything, there is as yet no announced date when Chinese players will be able to get their hands onWorld of Warcraft: Panda Man of Mystery.