I am only posting this because its some of the first news I think I have read about Turbines launch in another region. As of yet, Turbine has been rather quiet on this side of the pond about any of this.
Of course this is all in business speak, and its concerns "alpha/beta" and, as we all know its not uncommon for other markets to use different payment methods.
From the looks of things, Turbine has over 100 servers, 3 million potential players, and are offering two payment methods in china, Price per hour, and monthly.
Use "Search" from source site using keyword "LOTRO".About the source site:
JLM Pacific Epoch is an independent research firm focused exclusively on China. Respectable quotes:
The game entered final-round closed beta on October 23 with a pay-for-time charging mode in all server farms of either RMB 0.45 per hour or unlimited play for RMB 60 per month.
online games subsidiary CDC Games recorded 2.9 million registered users for its alpha testing for licensed MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO), qq.com reported October 2. CDC Games plans to begin open beta testing of the game at the end of October and to start commercial operation in November, the report said.
CDC Games distributed 8,000 activation codes for closed beta and recorded a 96% activation rate. The company has deployed 100 server farms, capable of supporting more than 300,000 players simultaneously, for a larger-scale closed beta test that is scheduled in a few weeks.
Seems soon, it will be fully launched. With all the recent goings on in china about out of country games, I wonder how Turbine is doing with the localization requirements (
such as skeletons) and if they are getting any of the eye that blizzard has with its china version.
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