[MUD-Dev] BIZ: MMOs in China

[Damion Schubert]

Chris Yeh wrote:

> My employer is in the wireless games market in China and some
> clients have asked about MMOs, which got me thinking...

Most of the news in China lately has been legal, as their government
recently announced they'd be ensuring that all games from outside of
the country do not threaten the national unity (link:

  http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9713017%255E15322,00.html

Many observers believe that the Chinese government feels somewhat
threatened by the wild success of Mu Online and Lineage in their
territory - both are from Korean studios.  It will be interesting to
see if the government takes action against either games.

That being said, China has in the past expressed interest in
'importing' talent and expertise.  When I was with a startup, a
Chinese company tried to lure my guys to China, because in theory
the Chinese government would have subsidized the company to some
degree to import the expertise (we declined).  If you are seriously
considering going into China, I'd recommend investigating
Chinese-based partners or other arrangements.

As for other territories, China and South Korea are the biggest
targets, but don't overlook Japan or Taiwan.  In particular, Japan
likes online games, but their tastes don't seem to mirror South
Korea (where most of the Asian games are coming from nowadays).
There's probably an opportunity in Japan, but having not looked into
the Asian territories in some time, I couldn't offer more than that
vaguest of hints.

--d
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