The globally popular MMO World of Warcraft increases its prices in China by 45%.
According to MMO Culture, a site specializing in MMO news from the Far East, NetEase, the provider of WoW in China, is raising its prices. WoW follows a Pay2Play model here – as in the rest of the world – but is billed by the hour in China. This is common in parts of Asia, where the PC gaming café culture has established itself.
According to mmoculture, 2700 minutes of WoW, which is 45 hours, now costs 30 Chinese Yuan, or 0.67 Yuan per hour – that’s about 9 cents.
Before the change, an hour of Chinese World of Warcraft cost 0.45 Yuan – thus about 6 cents.
Some fans protested loudly against this increase, according to mmoculture, stating that World of Warcraft is already on a downward trend in Asia. There are fears that the price increase could accelerate this decline.
In the UK, the subscription price for WoW was recently lowered, and the costs for Mists of Pandaria were adjusted downward. New players were even lured with a free basic package.
