StarCraft 2 Banned In China

Several sources are reporting that scheduled exhibition matches of StarCraft 2 did not take place at China's "Chinajoy" event, which is apparently a commie version of E3. While no official word was given, it is speculated that the reason for the ban is that the game is too violent and a bad influence on young gamers, and that it may likely become an outright ban on the game itself in the country. This seems to be an odd turn of events, given China's past history of banned games, which generally focused on games that made China look like an oppressive country for banning games like StarCraft 2. Another thought however, suggests it could be a lack of preparation on Blizzard's part. Shocking!

It is also stated that “any activity related to foreign games, including their showing, demonstrating, trading and marketing promotion, shall also abide by the censorship laws aiming at imported online games,” meaning that the State Administration Of News And Press should take a look at and censor whatever necessary bits from a game. It might sound strange to hear that Blizzard didn’t take this in account when decided to showcase Starcraft II at ChinaJoy 2009, especially since they knew how things work in China from WoW.

Not that Blizzard should have expected something like that given their recent relations with China over WoW..right? In any event, Chinese players may not be interested in StarCraft II anyway after they learn that there won't be anything to farm and sell. Hell, they needed somewhere to turn after gold farming was banned.

So this is what we talk about when there's no real SC2 news. Joy!