On September 19th, Puma sneakers, the new Chinese operator of "World of Warcraft," NetEase, announced on its official Chinese website that "World of Warcraft" would officially resume operations in mainland China. Players are allowed to create new accounts, and it was stated that the game version of the expansion pack "Wrath of the Lich King" has been prepared and will be submitted to the government for approval as quickly as possible. This announcement undoubtedly brought joy to the 5 million Chinese "World of Warcraft" players, but there are still many doubts behind NetEase's resumption of "World of Warcraft." Early today, sources close to the Press and Publication Administration revealed that NetEase's resumption of "World of Warcraft" did not go through the approval of the Press and Publication Administration. Therefore, this resumption may still have uncertainties. NetEase obtained the agency rights of "World of Warcraft" from Blizzard on April 16th. Due to not obtaining the operational approval from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television, it has been out of service for nearly 4 months. It has been in free internal testing for over a month. The media that recently reported the news of the official resumption of "World of Warcraft" is the Beijing Morning Post. According to reports, after more than 50 days of free operation, NetEase suffered huge losses and stated that "World of Warcraft" would start public testing as soon as it crossed the approval threshold, with the server opening date set for September 18th. However, NetEase later stated to China News Service on the afternoon of September 17th that the content about the server opening on September 18th was untrue and purely speculative. But on the afternoon of September 18th, NetEase began interviewing industry insiders, requesting industry leaders to congratulate on the resumption of "World of Warcraft." According to Sohu IT, the congratulatory videos from figures like Liu Wei, president of Giant Interactive, and Pang Shengdong, chairman of 51.com, were all published online at 6 PM on September 18th. This contradicted NetEase's public denial yesterday of the server opening on the 18th. The Ministry of Culture emphasized itself as the principal department for online games. The basis for the Beijing Morning Post's report was an interpretation notice issued by the Central Organization Department on September 16th regarding the provisions of the "three fixed" regulations concerning animation, online games, and comprehensive law enforcement in the cultural market for the Ministry of Culture, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, and the General Administration of Press and Publication. The Ministry of Culture emphasized itself as the principal department for online games, responsible for industry planning, project construction, and market supervision, while the General Administration of Press and Publication is responsible for managing animations in the publication phase and conducting pre-approval for the online publication and distribution of game publications. "World of Warcraft" had already passed the review of the Ministry of Culture in July. The Beijing Morning Post's report believed that with the latest clarification of the regulatory authority for online games, NetEase no longer needs to wait for the approval of the General Administration of Press and Publication and can independently decide on the time for public testing. On September 19th, NetEase officially announced the resumption of "World of Warcraft." This aligns closely with the previously reported server opening times. However, the General Administration of Press and Publication has yet to make any formal statement. Today, NetEase also stated that the game version of the "World of Warcraft" expansion pack "Wrath of the Lich King" has been prepared and will be submitted to the government for approval as quickly as possible. The specific department referred to here is unclear whether it is the Ministry of Culture or the Press and Publication Administration. On August 12th, the official website of the Beijing Press Bureau showed that the Beijing Press Bureau had already submitted the new expansion pack "Wrath of the Lich King" of "World of Warcraft" to the General Administration of Press and Publication, beginning formal acceptance of the approval from the Press and Publication Administration. But on August 20th, the Beijing Press Bureau specifically issued a notice on its official website stating that it "had not received the application materials for the new expansion pack 'Wrath of the Lich King' of 'World of Warcraft.'" This conflicts with the previous answers provided by the bureau on its official website regarding this issue. Interpretation by the Ministry of Culture: Online games are not publications. On the 18th, Director Tu Zuhai of the Network Market Department of the Ministry of Culture stated that online games are not publications, and the Ministry of Culture is the principal department for online games. Director Tu explained that according to the provisions of the "three fixed" regulations, "online publication of online games" refers to the publication of online games, and "pre-approval" refers to the approval of online game publications by the General Administration of Press and Publication before being permitted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to provide services to internet users. Regarding the definition of publications mentioned in the document, according to the "Regulations on Publishing" issued by the State Council, Chapter One, Article Two states that "the publications referred to in these regulations mean newspapers, journals, books, audiovisual products, electronic publications, etc." In other words, publications must have a tangible carrier. For example, game CDs belong to publications, but downloads provided by game clients do not fall within the scope of publications and are no longer managed as such. They are executed according to the relevant regulations of the Ministry of Culture for the management of the online game industry. For the approval of imported online games like "World of Warcraft," Director Tu stated that if the game does not involve the publication of publications, the Ministry of Culture will be responsible for the unified approval work. This means that the approval work for the NetEase version of "World of Warcraft" will be managed by the Ministry of Culture, implying that the resumption of "World of Warcraft" does not need to wait for the opinion of the Press and Publication Administration. The Ministry of Culture had already approved "World of Warcraft" in July, and it was generally believed that it still needed the approval of the Press and Publication Administration to resume operations. "World of Warcraft" Resumes Operations, "Bypassing" the Press and Publication Administration, Rumors Say They Are "Very Angry." According to sources close to the Press and Publication Administration obtained by Sohu IT, the Press and Publication Administration is "very angry" about NetEase bypassing them to announce the resumption of "World of Warcraft." Relevant individuals stated that the Press and Publication Administration insists that "World of Warcraft" needs their approval, and the investigation into the joint venture between NetEase and Blizzard is still ongoing. NetEase's unilateral announcement of the resumption of "World of Warcraft" made things "very complicated." However, the Press and Publication Administration has not made any formal statement regarding this matter, and NetEase refuses to comment on it. A search on the official website of the Press and Publication Administration for information about "World of Warcraft" did not reveal any recent approvals. According to calculations by a certain newspaper, every day "World of Warcraft" delays its formal commercial operation, NetEase loses 4 million yuan in revenue. Meanwhile, since the free internal testing opened on July 30th, the daily operating cost of "World of Warcraft" is approximately 1 million yuan. Calculating this, during the 50 days of internal testing, NetEase has spent 50 million yuan without seeing any returns. Analysts believe that NetEase's bypassing of the Press and Publication Administration to announce the resumption of "World of Warcraft" indicates a subtle change in the relationship between NetEase and the Press and Publication Administration, essentially representing a split between NetEase and the Press and Publication Administration. Whether the resumption of "World of Warcraft" means the matter is settled still remains uncertain. In fact, if NetEase splits with the Press and Publication Administration, the Press and Publication Administration will suffer heavy losses, not only wasting all the previous approval work but also losing the first round against the Ministry of Culture. Losing both face and substance, Director Chou of the Press and Publication Administration refused to comment, indicating his ignorance of the resumption of "World of Warcraft," further demonstrating that the Press and Publication Administration is truly upset. Whether the pre-approval for future NetEase games will pass smoothly depends entirely on the attitude of the Press and Publication Administration. Subscribe to my blog: To provide news tips, please send an email to my address: or add me on MSN: