Chinese online game operator The9 lost the license for Blizzard's World of Warcraft last month, but it won't keep the company from launching a purported knock-off called World of Fight.
No World of Warcraft license? No problem. After losing the lucrative license to operate Blizzard's hit MMORPG in mainland China last month to rival NetEase, Chinese online game operator The9 announced World of Fight, an online game that some are already speculating to be a blatant rip-off of WoW. The9 has launched a website for WoF at www.wofchina.com, only one letter away from the official Chinese WoW site at wowchina.com. Definite similarities can be seen between the logos for WoW and WoF. However, despite the speculation that WoF is a blatant rip-off of WoW, there is little else to compare between the two games besides the website. There is no gameplay footage or screenshots yet available for WoF. The WoF website says the game is "soon to come," according to the Wall Street Journal's China blog. Even the initial similarities may draw the ire, or at least concern, of Blizzard. Gamasutra has contacted the studio for comment, as well as reps for The9. In April, The9 lost the rights to host WoW in China to NetEase. The9's contract expires in June.
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