World of Warcraft: Ministry of Culture vs GAPP

The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) issued an official announcement on their website yesterday evening, revoking Netease's permit to operate the online role playing game "World of Warcraft" in China.

In the official press release, GAPP declared that Netease had committed "gross violations" of Chinese law and that as a result it was ordering Netease to stop charging players and to halt any new registrations.

Netease operates as the local Chinese distribution partner for Activision Blizzard's popular game, World of Warcraft. Netease representatives told Reuters that they believe they are in full compliance with GAPP regulations and were looking for further clarification on specific violations.

In the official announcement, GAPP presented evidence that Netease ignored orders from regulators to halt charging customers and establishing new accounts during the GAPP evaluation period. Instead the company purportedly allowed public registration beginning on September 19th, which GAPP described as "illegal behavior."

However during a Ministry of Culture "media briefing" held in Beijing at 3pm this afternoon, Li Xiong, the director of the Ministry of Culture's Department of Cultural Market, indicated that GAPP had over stepped their regulatory boundaries and that this was an issue for the Ministry of Culture. 

The director of the Internet Culture Division, which is under the control of the Department of Cultural Market, Liu Qiang, also described GAPP's decision to ban World of Warcraft as being unwarranted.

Liu said that China's State Council had clearly stated that the Ministry of Culture was the only government agency with the power to investigate and punish online gaming companies, while GAPP was only responsible for the original approval process.

This is the second time in less than a month that the Ministry of Culture and the General Administration of Press and Publication have clashed. GAPP announced last month new regulations for approval to launch games which effectively prohibited any foreign games to operate within China.

In a speech given by Tuo Zuhai, the deputy director of the Ministry of Culture's Department of Cultural Market, GAPP's new regulations were described as "surly interference in domestic online game enterprises."  He went on to reaffirm the ministry's role, "It's the MOC (Ministry of Culture)'s duty to ensure the long term development of China's culture industry, especially the gaming industry."

Links and Sources
General Administration of Press and Publication: official announcement (Chinese)
Sina: Ministry of Culture Meeting (Chinese)
web2asia.com: "surly interference" speech report (English)
Hexun: image