Guild Wars 2

“We think these changes will lead to a healthier game and more long-term fun. With the China launch coming up, there is no better time than now for us to improve the economy of the game.” (27MAR14 Feature Blog Post)

The way ArenaNet said that last sentence “no better time than now” really irks me. So a new source of money is coming (China), and you guys feel it’s now time to start adding features into the game, that your current customer base have been asking forever for?

Just my opinion (might not bother everyone, but it does both me).

It’s not just you, that last line bothered me as well. It was quite odd, but hit me a little differently. It actually made me think – “What the… Huh? Why are they even mentioning China and our in-game economy in the same sentence? Why make it sound like they have anything at all to do with our in-game economy or its release being related in any way to being justification for our in-game economy being improved upon?”

That whole blog post reeks of being a replacement for the real ‘Removing Restrictions’ blog post that got yanked at the last minute. If that was the real ‘Removing Restrictions’ blog post…I have no words. I’m just…wow. Just wow.

I think you forgot that Anet sold the rights to publish in China to Kongzhong (Or whatever the name of the company is). Means Anet doesnt make any money from their diamond sellings there.

puts on conspiracy hat

Hmmm…. a quick replacement could be why it was late being released. They needed someone to cobble something together due to whatever the original ‘removing restrictions’ having fell through… Not uncommon from time to time…

pulls the cap off

So, since I don’t really pay attention, I have to ask… Are the various TPs separate? NA, EU, now China. Or could China’s activity potentially upset our balance – ie, flood of supply, thus lowering costs.

pessimist.7294:

I think you forgot that Anet sold the rights to publish in China to Kongzhong (Or whatever the name of the company is). Means Anet doesnt make any money from their diamond sellings there.

Part of the issue is that gaming in different countries have different rules (and almost always national laws) to go by. One fun mmo that I drifted away opened up servers for Japan last year, but instead of being a monthly subscription model for those servers like it is for all the other regions, they’re forced into a f2p+cash shop model for that specific region.

And usually those rules/laws dictate that it has to be an “in-house” company that acts as the frontman for the game. That’s how the game can be drastically different when you compare 2 regions.