June 6, 2009 Beijing Time – According to the agreement, the World of Warcraft (WoW) licensing agreement between The9 and Blizzard will terminate at 00:00 June 7, marking the end of The9's 4 year operation of WoW in Mainland China. Thousands of servers are also to be closed down in the evening of June 6. Thereafter, NetEase will take over the license of WoW in Mainland China, which earlier expressed that the first batch of servers for this game will be available in late June after the license change.



In the evening of June 6, The9 made an official announcement as a goodbye to WoW players. Details about the announcement are as follows:

It has been 4 years since we launched WoW open beta in China on April 26, 2005. During the past 1,500+ days, The9's WoW operation team, together with more than 5 million passionate players, have witnessed how this epic game set foot and grew in China with an astonishingly glorious success.

We've shared every golden memory of WoW with all our players: deeply touched by the great charm and glory of Azeroth world at the first time we landed on it; having endless fun through combating side by side and adventuring together with friends; greatly amazed to see the Firelord coming out of the soaring lava for the first time; extremely excited when the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj were opened with a loud crash; staying awake enthusiastically all night after defeating Illidan…

Like all of you, we also feel sad and reluctant to part from WoW. For someone, WoW may be just a game, but for players, it is another world they've being living in and focusing on over the years. Similarly, for us The9, operating WoW is not only a job, but also a dream which deserves our devotion.

During the past four years we've spent operating WoW, there have been many precious memories worthy of pride and many undesirable disappointments, for which we hereby extend our most sincere apologies. The9 is really grateful for the love and support you've given to WoW in the past four years, as well as the encouragement and rewards you've brought to The9's WoW operation team.

Goodbye, dear WoW players! And goodbye, Azeroth warriors!