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Rumor: New Blizzard MMO to be Starcraft Online?
This is a bit of a long-shot, given the source, but we felt it was worth passing along anyway. A report out of Beijing has surfaced indicating that Blizzard's next foray into the MMO space will indeed be the oft-rumored Starcraft Online. Citing an anonymous industry insider, it was reported in Caijing magazine that Chinese game operator Netease will be the Chinese partner responsible for the distribution of Starcraft Online on the mainland. Netease CEO Ding Lei refused to confirm the rumor, but didn't deny it either. It's nothing official, but it's certainly plausible that the existence of the Blizzard new game would be leaked via a back-door channel like this.Blizzard's unnamed "next-gen" MMO has been known to be in existence for some time now. Originally discovered visa vie the wording in a few job listings on Blizzard's careers page, the project was later confirmed by a mod on the World of Warcraft forums. It's been the fodder for many a discussion between the Massively staff, including a prominent appearance in Ask Massively. For my part, I speculated that the new Blizzard property would be an expansion of the Diablo series in part 2 of the Top 10 MIA MMOs of 2007. And just last week, our own Akela Talamasca speculated about how exactly an MMO set in the Starcraft universe would work, if at all. Is this source completely reliable? Maybe. Is it right? Maybe. Are we going to stop until we've found the answer? Hells no![Via Gamesindustry.biz]
China puts in policy to discourage foreign MMOs
China has always been a market that businesses have stumbled over each other to secure. Students of history might remember how Coca-Cola was one of the first companies to recognize the fact that a country with a billion people is a country with a billion potential customers, and was literally right on the heels of President Carter when negotiations relaxed the restriction of foreign goods in 1979. So too are MMO makers starting to realize the enormous potential of an increasingly connected Chinese mainland. Sure, World of Warcraft's 10 million subscribers seems good now, but what happens when a game comes along that captures the attention of the Chinese market, estimated to grow to 59 million in 2008?Unfortunately for developers in the U.S., Korea, and elsewhere looking to cash in on this burgeoning market, recent regulations imposed by the Chinese government will allow domestic Chinese gaming companies to effectively postpone the release of foreign-developed games indefinitely by submitting a complaint to GAPP, China's censorship agency. Curious that they'd run a protectionist racket on an industry that they recently likened to "spiritual opium," but the Communist government didn't take power in order to be a bedrock of consistency.The political science major in me is actually excited by this prospect, because it means that MMOs are likely about to enter into the field of political discourse. Just as they do with farm goods and automobiles, it might not be too much of a stretch to imagine U.S. politicians publicly wrangling with Chinese officials to allow American MMOs unrestricted access to the Chinese population. In the next few years, it's possible your Congressman will talk, at length about World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online in front of one of the chambers of Congress. And this time they'll actually be speaking in favor of the game industry. What a thought!
China online gaming trends
BusinessWeek online recently ran an article that effectively summarizes major issues in the burgeoning Chinese gaming industry, including MMO addiction, Internet population growth, and the increasing quality of China's homegrown titles. Also, the horse armor debate may soon find new life overseas, as there are plans for several Chinese game operators to switch from a subscription-based revenue model to the sale of virtual goods and other downloadable content "needed to advance various games".The article is supplemented by a slideshow that showcases China's hottest online games, one of which hails from the States -- Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. This is consistent with vendors I visited during a recent trip to Shanghai who claimed that DDO was among their bestsellers.See also: More chaperones in China's Internet cafes SUN is most anticipated game in China Take-Two announces 2K Shanghai
