Rumor: The9, Blizzard WoW Talks Fail, Netease to Take Over
Duowan.com, 4/15/09
Rumors are circulating that negotiations regarding the renewal of the operating license for the 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) between Chinese online game developer and operator The9 (Nasdaq: NCTY) and Blizzard have collapsed. As a result, Netease (Nasdaq: NTES) has been granted exclusive operating rights to WoW for mainland China. Chinese gaming portal Duowan inquired about the matter with Netease, and the company did not issue a denial. An industry source has indicated that Tencent (0700.HK) also bid for the operating rights to the game. According to one chip manufacturer, Netease recently started procuring large amounts of hardware to prepare for taking over WoW operation.
Another industry source indicated that Netease will purchase WoW player information and data from The9, and will also receive the operating rights to WoW's second expansion pack "Wrath of the Lich King". At the same time, "Wrath of the Lich King" has likely already received operating approval. The9 did not comment on this news.
Keywords: 0700.HK Blizzard expansion pack Internet MMORPG NCTY Netease NTES operating license Tencent The9 WoW Wrath of the Lich King online gaming
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