Long, long overdue move. Activision Blizzard (ATVI), publisher of era-defining mega-hit World of Warcraft, is finally getting serious about recruiting new players outside of WoW's traditional audience in the English-speaking world.
Activision has issued an RFI for an agency to manage its brand in the Asia/Pacific region. The company currently has no agency-of-record to help it crack the Chinese market. (Starcom Mediavest already works with WoW outside Asia.)
About time. For all Warcraft's success, it will be hard for Activision to add appreciably to its approximately 11 million paying subscribers if it doesn't look overseas.
Not the first time Western companies have proved determined to hook Chinese on an addictive product. But the Chinese government knows what it's up against -- under Chinese law, under-18 gamers can't collect "experience points" if they play more than three hours a day.
See Also:
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