Phony world of Warcraft in china
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Online gamers can get aggressive. They're nothing compared with Chinese bureaucracies engaged in a turf war.
Popular online fantasy game "World of Warcraft" is at the center of one such battle. Concerns that it could be banned from China have hit the stock price of Nasdaq-listed NetEase, which licenses the game in China from Activision Blizzard.
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Investors are probably overdoing it. The game is currently operational on the mainland and, on balance, it seems unlikely WoW will be blocked.
But jitters over Chinese Internet stocks that license foreign games are bound to continue until there's clarity over who's running the regulatory show. In theory, the Ministry of Culture is in charge. Beijing gave it purview over the Internet gaming industry in September. But that has put noses out of joint over at the General Administration of Press and Publication, which previously ruled the Internet-gaming roost.
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Last weekend, GAPP issued a circular requiring its preapproval for all new online games, including when new companies take on the operation of existing games. The Ministry of Culture will probably overrule GAPP and allow WoW to proceed. But the safe path for those looking to invest in China's fast-growing Internet-gaming sector will be to choose companies that develop their own games. Otherwise, they risk the uncertain fallout from China's warring state institutions.
