WoW: Mists of Pandaria Gets Approved for Chinese Release

With just a few weeks left until the global release of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, some may have pondered whether or not the Chinese government would approve of the franchise's latest expansion. Despite the game's notoriously large following in China, it was almost shut down on a number of occasions due to government regulations. Expansions haven't gone too well in the past either.

In 2007, just before the release of the franchise's first expansion, the Chinese General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) shut down World of Warcraft due to conflicts with the Chinese company responsible for its localization, NetEase. Luckily for Blizzard, the game was brought back up six weeks later after some censorship was done.

The next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, was delayed in China for two whole years. The current expansion released in December 2010, Cataclysm, also experienced heavy delays and wasn't released until July of this year. But surprisingly enough, the government has officially green-lit the upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion.

Though no specific date was given, the early approval means Chinese gamers probably won't have to wait a whole two years to get their fix of the panda-packed expansion. 

Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback

Tuan Mai
Tuan Mai is a Los Angeles based writer and marketing manager working within the PC Hardware industry. He has written for Tom's Guide since 2010, with a special interest in the weird and quirky.
  • Everyone knew this expansion was dedicated mostly to china gamers. Guild Wars 2 is much better.
    Reply
  • sephmeister
    A decisive victory for all those chinese gold farmers!
    Reply
  • Meatymutawings
    them pandas working their magic.
    Reply
  • sherlockwing
    This wasn't as big a problem for the regime as say something like Command and Conquer:Generals-> a game designed with getting instant banned in China in mind.
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    sherlockwingThis wasn't as big a problem for the regime as say something like Command and Conquer:Generals-> a game designed with getting instant banned in China in mind.
    Even if a game did get banned, the pirates aren't going to give a crap, they're going the copy and distributed (freely or at a price) those software.
    Reply
  • ironmb
    I guess catering to all the panda lovers worked out in the end for blizzard since most of its milk customers are in china.
    Reply
  • s3anister
    WoW: Mists of Pandaria Gets Approved for Chinese Release
    And the readers of Tom's U.S. are so excited...
    Reply
  • icemunk
    Of course it was. The Pandaria expansion was made for China, it's WoW's only growing market.
    Reply
  • belardo
    Pandas aren't even real. Some Chinese invention.
    Reply
  • sykozis
    The first expansion for WoW wasn't released in 2009.... It was released in 2006.
    Reply