In China, it’s the glitzy cities that get the attention — Shanghai in particular is the city that garners the most attention in scholarship (and frequently in the press). I was somewhat relieved to see that this is not confined merely to China specialists, but game industry watcher types as well — the most recent ‘China Angle’ column at Gamasutra looks at games outside of the publicized hotspots, where large portions of the user bases are found. Giant Interactive, developer of Zhengtu Online, recently purchased a stake in one of China’s largest social networking sites, in an attempt to grow their market. But that’s not the only way companies are trying to acquire ever greater number of players, oh no:
Giant Interactive, the company that’s been making the rounds via a fantastic article on Zhengtu Online, their unholy marriage of gambling, flagrant RMT, and the usual MMORPG aspects, is moving into yet another area by securing the license to operate the Swiss-based MMORPG Empire of Sports in China. I admit it, I don’t get it – what’s the appeal here? – but with Giant at the helm, do we have real gambling on virtual sports events to look forward to? Giant will be running the game in Mainland China, as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau – the company has really been rocketing to prominence in the past couple of months. The full release is after the jump.
