World Unlicensed World of Warcraft theme park opens in China

[Dan]

World Joyland hungers.

If you love Chinese knock-offs -- and I know you do -- you'll love this bit of news: World Joyland, the famed and unlicensed World of Warcraft theme park in Changzhou, China, is now open for business. The people at Shanghaiist took a tour of the place, taking myriad pictures of their experience.

Unlicensed World of Warcraft theme park opens in China

World Joyland hungers. If you love Chinese knock-offs -- and I know you do -- you'll love this bit of news: World Joyland, the famed and unlicensed World of Warcraft theme park in Changzhou, China, is now open for business. The people at Shanghaiist took a tour of the place, taking myriad...

www.engadget.com

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This makes me angry. >.<

 

[The Helper]

An Unofficial World Of Warcraft Theme Park Exists In China

There's a saying that the only real things in China are the fakes. That fact is becoming more and more apparent as time goes by -- high volume knockoff malls run rampant throughout most of the major cities, and a faux-Apple store made big headlines by becoming one of the most elaborate piracy schemes in the world.

It isn't the most elaborate, though. At least, not anymore. A gigantic DisneyWorld-esque theme park has sprouted up in China's eastern city, Changzhou. It is called Joyland, and its attractions bear a striking resemblance to a certain beloved video game franchise we all know of, some extremely intimately. It has no copyrights, no permission from Blizzard, and they may actually get away with it.

Doing business in China has long been a big challenge for international companies, particularly those in the digital realm. Copyright protection there is shoddy at best, and the Chinese government guards its nationals very closely, particularly when under investigation by large Western corporations. But this example is unique -- there's a section of Joyland dedicated to World of Warcraft. It is enormous, with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of unofficial World of Warcraft merchandise, being hocked to the masses as real, with no official Blizzard endorsement.

It might be too big to cover up. Activision Blizzard stands to be taken advantage of in a large way, and they're too protective to let this occur without putting up a considerable fight. They have the money, too, to level litigation against the proprietors of Joyland, despite the Chinese government being able to play favorites, and likely doing so. Running a booth in a mall is one thing, but organizing a potentially multimillion dollar business on the basis of another country might be damn near impossible.

Read more about it here.

 

[WildTurkey]

Dan beat you to this.

http://www.thehelper.net/forums/sho...d-World-of-Warcraft-theme-park-opens-in-China

And he had pictures. <-- They look pretty awesome.

 

[annihilator127]

It's unlikely that we all have heard of World of Warcraft.

 

[camelCase]

I am continuously shocked by the amount and level of things the Chinese can pirate =/