Kotaku
An insider just dropped word that leading Chinese game operator The9 and video game maker Electronic Arts are planning a joint venture deal in which The9 runs EA's casual game platform, Pogo, in China. This will supposedly be announced in early April.
In related news, The9 and Blizzard/VUG are in a dispute over The Burning Crusade, the expansion for World of Warcraft. Blizzard/VUG is apparently taking that stance that The9 does not get it as part of their original deal, and that the Chinese operator needs to pay an additional license fee and/or give Blizzard/VUG shares in the company. According to our insider, things have gotten to the point where Blizzard is even threatening to turn Burning Crusade into WoW 2 and find another partner for China.
With the country being WoW's largest market in terms of "subscribers," the stakes are high. But, who really has the upper hand there: the operators or the developers?
Pogo [Official Site]
