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NetEase launches a wuxia MMORPG to take on World of Warcraft
China’s second biggest gaming company launches Justice Online
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Imagine World of Warcraft -- but with Chinese swordsmen, tai chi masters, and kung fu warriors, with players leaping off bamboo, temples and waterfalls with a slew of martial arts moves.
That is what NetEase’s new game Justice Online is all about. After five years in development with a team of about 250, China’s second largest gaming company finally launched the game in open beta.
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It’s a highly anticipated title because it is considered by many as NetEase’s attempt to create a homegrown successor to China’s most popular MMORPG: World of Warcraft.
WoW took China by storm since the mid-2000s and is published by NetEase. Since then, the Guangzhou-based company has grown from a US$2 billion company to a US$33 billion company.
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Chinese gamers have a special love for MMORPGs, or massively multiplayer online role-playing games. That’s because in the days before smartphones, Chinese gamers mostly went to internet cafes to play games and socialize. Given that consoles were banned for 15 years, MMORPGs like WoW were one of the few ways to play online multiplayer.
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