World Of Warcraft back online in China

via Computer and Video Games


World Of Warcraft has fully re-launched in China after almost four months of downtime.

The majority of regional subscribers have been without access to the game since early June after NetEase signed a three year licensing deal with Blizzard to become WOW's new local operator, taking over from The9.

Operator changeovers in China are particularly problematic due to the government approval process imposed upon launches - or re-launches - of services such as MMORPGs, all of which require an official licence.

The title partially re-launched in early August with a series of government-enforced content changes following a review by the General Administration of Press and Publication, a governmental agency that deals with censorship.

According to WOW.com, NetEase has spent over a million yuan (about $146,000) per day to maintain the game and its servers during the past month of closed beta.