The exploding MMO market in China is being cut off from Western economic influence as Chinese regulators ban foreign investment in virtual worlds. This Reuters report states that: “The new directive also disallows foreign firms from indirectly influencing Chinese gaming firms through agreements or technology support.” This is a move which presumably has something do with predictions that the Chinese MMO market will be worth $3.5-4 billion this year. I wonder what the ramifications of this will be for China’s game culture, and whether we’ll see them having a rather isolated and unusual MMO focus like South Korea has done in the past.

Spotted over on VG247.