In web-phobic China, the government tightly regulates online video games. But the Chinese government is notoriously large and convoluted, and a public squabble has broken out over who has jurisdiction over the virtual landscape of WoW: The General Administration of Press and Publications or the Ministry of Culture.
According to an AP report:
The General Administration of Press and Publications released a statement Monday saying the "Warcraft" operator, Netease.com Inc., failed to get the administration's permission to bring the game into China. It said the company should stop signing up customers and apply for approval.
Netease, which is based in Beijing and traded on the U.S.-based Nasdaq stock market, said in a statement that it had not received official notification of the agency's announcement.
The Ministry of Culture rejected the publishing bureau's claim to control over online games.
"These online games and publications are fully subject to administration by the Ministry of Culture," the director of its department of cultural markets, Li Xiong, said Tuesday at a news conference.
Li said Netease is "complete in its paperwork and its game is legitimate," according to a transcript on the ministry Web site.
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