Web watchdogs duel over Warcraft (2)

"Although there are different views between the two parties, the case should be conducted in strict accordance with the disciplines of the State Council," Li said.

An official document released by the State Council in July 2008 stated that the MOC is in charge of online games while the GAPP is responsible for reviewing the games before they are officially launched online.

Liu Qiang, an official with the Ministry of Culture, said in a previous interview that NetEase was permitted to operate the game.

NetEase's shares ended down 2.41 percent at $37.69 on the Nasdaq, and Activision Blizzard's stock ended down 4.3 percent at $10.37, respectively, following the decision that urged NetEase to stop taking new registrations and payments for the game.

Liu Youcai, a marketing officer at NetEase, used a Chinese saying to describe the current situation, saying, "When the gods fight, we little ghosts suffer."

NetEase resumed operations of the World of Warcraft at 9 am Tuesday after temporarily shutting the site for maintenance, according to Bloomberg.
Still, doubts surround GAPP's current stranglehold on NetEase operations, as the game's content had already been approved while being run by the former Shanghai-based hoster, The9, from 2005 until June 2009, before the contract between The9 and Activision Blizzard expired.

NetEase submitted an operating request for the game to the GAPP for review and approval in June. But the procedure proved lengthy, causing the game's servers to be shut off for almost two months, causing a reported economic loss of 5 million yuan ($568,000) per day and pushing back the release of the "Burning Crusades" expansion.

NetEase started hosting World of Warcraft commercially in China on September 19 as the new sole China-based distributor for the game, under a three-year contract with Blizzard.

WOW has about 5 million subscribers in China, according to Caijing magazine.


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