World of Warcraft, Chinese logo

In what seems to be an endless struggle between NetEase’s licensed World of Warcraft, and China’s General Admission of Press and Publications (GAPP), NetEase hits yet another road-bump on it’s way to licensing and releasing World of Warcraft in China.

Tension between the two goes back as far as November of 2009, when World of Warcraft was “banned” and the license application was returned to NetEase because the company broke its terms of service with the GAPP, and began creating and charging new accounts without the green light from the GAPP.

The Burning Crusade, Blizzard entertainment

According to Reuters, NetEase has suspended any new registration for World of Warcraft. Registration will be halted for a week, starting Monday, February 8th, to Monday, February 15th, the beginning of the Chinese new year, while the company re-applies for the license to operate the expansion (The Burning Crusade) in China.

Also according to Reuters, NetEase’ shares fell over 30% since it’s record high of $48.50 reached last September because of the uncertainty of the title’s operation.

All this red tape seems extraordinarily convoluted and confusing, especially when one considers that The9 was already operating the same exact game before NetEase took over. It seems to this writer that the GAPP has some vendetta against NetEase, or that NetEase isn’t in the right officials pocket.

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