World of Warcraft expansion approved in China

The Burning Crusade is finally ready to engulf China. After an initial rejection in November, NetEase has announced that China's General Administration of Press and Publication has approved its application to localize the first World of Warcraft expansion.

Last year's rejection of the game was just one part of a GAPP crackdown on World of Warcraft's local operator. The regulatory agency said NetEase was running Blizzard's massively multiplayer online role-playing game without proper approval in the country due to "gross violations" of local laws.

As a result, GAPP officials ordered NetEase to stop charging players of the game in China and cease accepting any new registrations. NetEase has not indicated if its other issues with GAPP have been resolved or when it might resume registrations and regular charging practices.

At the time, Roth Capital Partners analyst Adam Krejcik blamed the revocation on a dispute between the GAPP and China's Ministry of Culture, which had been increasingly clamping down on online gaming. "These guys are essentially stuck in the middle of this power struggle," Krejcik said of NetEase.