In order to get a video game approved for sale in China, it must first pass the government censors. World of Warcraft, which has previously sold very well in Asia, and in China in particular, has had a bit of trouble with the Chinese censors in the past. Specifically, when trying to get WoW approved for sale, Blizzard has been forced to alter the undead characters so that exposed bone is now covered up. That’s a cultural taboo, and the censors didn’t like it. Once that got changed, the game was permitted.
Now it seems that the latest WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, is having some similar problems. Again, the issue with “skeleton characters” came up, as did certain issues with a “city raid”. Apparently, fighting the scourge, which is a central feature of the WotLK expansion, features too much undead interaction for the censors to tolerate.
As a side note, Blizzard didn’t even attempt to include the new Death Knight class into the Chinese version of the game. We’re guessing that has something to do with the fact that DKs are 1) undead, 2) allied with a whole slew of undead beasties, and 3) basically reside in a floating undead city. But who are we to quibble?
Will these issues be resolved? Will WotLK be permitted to be sold in China? You can bet on it. Blizzard’s record of selling games in China is outstanding, and you can be assured they have coders working on removing skeletons from the Chinese beta version of WoW as we speak. The9 (Blizzard’s partner in providing WoW services in China) has also been working diligently to bring WotLK into line in order to obtain approval. It’ll probably be months, but WotLK (without so much of that offensive undead imagery) will be selling like hotcakes in China soon.
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Update: According to Bill Vaugn (of WorldofWar.Net fame) a factor in this delay may involve a dispute between The9 and Blizzard. Blizz wants to up the cost of the license, and it’s speculated that The9 may be dragging their feet when it comes to pushing WotLK through the censorship process in response to the price increase.
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What absolute simpletons the Chinese government must believe their people to be. Perhaps someone should teach them that there is a difference between fiction and reality and that fiction can’t hurt people.
That’s a bit weird for them to reject a big game publisher. They farm gold in China so what’s wrong in launching WotLK? Someone please shed some light.
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