In a move to circumvent legal constraints, Blizzard is reportedly setting up the Chinese version of World of Warcraft on South Korean servers. This intel comes from X user Nico_oq who has been a prominent source for news regarding Blizzard Entertainment games in Asia.
According to Nico’s X post, “a certain company” is setting up servers in Korea to lease Blizzard the operating rights for catering to the Chinese player base. The servers are reportedly being set up in such a way that Chinese players will be able to play with each other without mixing with the Korean player base. However, this may result in a slightly higher ping since the servers will be physically based in South Korea.
Why Blizzard Is Leasing Servers In South Korea To Serve WoW Players In China
World of Warcraft shut down in China last year following the end of partnership between Blizzard and NetEase. Even though the Chinese player base has waned over the years, it still boasted an impressive 350k number at the time of the 2023 shutdown.
In December last year, Chinese WoW players’ rejoiced as Blizzard resumed its partnership with NetEase to continue operations in the country. However, getting servers back up and running has not been a smooth journey. The hurdle comes in the form of trademarks that Blizzard has applied for in China.
While the ‘World of Warcraft’ trademark itself is frozen in the country, the individual trademarks for the upcoming expansions—The War Within, Midnight, and The Last Titan—have been rejected. This does not mean Blizzard can’t review the rejection and get it approved in due course. However, sources claim that the process is lengthy and will jeopardize the launch of the upcoming The Worldsoul Saga.
While the leaker Nico_oq points out the significantly expensive server costs, I assume it won’t be a hassle to Blizzard. It seems to be a temporary solution till they get their trademarks sorted in China. We have reached out to Blizzard for comments.
