World of Warcraft Invades China

From Ferrago: WoW launches in China

"Blizzard announce today that their World of Warcraft MMORPG has now officially launched across China, introducing one of the world's fastest growing gaming community's to one of the world's most popular online games. The launch in the People's Republic follows an intensive beta test, at which 500,000 players simultaneously participated at its peak."

"Local games firm The9 have been employed by Blizzard to manage the title, offering technical and billing support, as well as synchronising content updates and the like. The firm are also aiding Blizzard in protecting the title not only from hackers but piracy too, a CD-key based system working in tandem with point cards to help prevent players playing without paying. Piracy is currently rife in the Chinese software market, in part owing to legal apathy towards copyrights, something western nations are urging the rapidly-developing super-state to address."