How come no FFXI release in China & Korea?

[Runespider]

It's hard to attract new players to FFXI now but it still has a solid userbase and seems crazy it was never released in China and Korea on seperate servers. The money it would bring it surely makes it worthwhile and make the title as a whole more successfull?

Square planned a Chinese release of FFXIV so why not FFXI?

before someone says it, I said seperate servers just for those regions.

[Swords]

I think alot of it was technology, commerce, and politics at the time when FFXI was released. For starters China and Korea (Especially Korea) have a much tighter grip on their media outlets than Japan or America. Considering recent booms in their economies the past 5 years, I think their governments have come to realize they cannot control everything as well as they like with the Internet and have relaxed their grip a little.

SE though had to be cautious about their release of FFXI, if you remember they were still recouping from the major losses on Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within that nearly caused them to go bankrupt. Being SE's first divulge into MMOs and PS2 only on it's initial release in Japan, it would make sense to not campaign to countries that have a smaller console market.

[Glamdring]

You remember what China did to Google? Free flow of information is NOT a virtue endorsed by the Chinese government. Could you imagine their response if they had a player in their country talking to me and I mentioned something about individual human rights?!

Korea i have no idea. there's always been that animosity between the two peoples (a great way to mortally insult a korean is to call them anything but a korean), but I have no idea if that blocks south korean access. North korea... well see my note about china above and multiply it by a billion. Remember Il shot an 18 on a par 72 course, IT'S A FACT! NORTH KOREA SAYS IT IS!

[Byrth]

Yeah, political and economic climate at the time of release. At this point, a release in Korea and China would cost a lot (translators, Chinese/Korean support) and not bring in much revenue (who joins a 7 year old game?)

Also, rumor had it that (I think) Korea was behind the dDOS attacks of 2004-2005ish.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

seems crazy it was never released in China and Korea on seperate servers.

I don't understand this. Why would it even be considdered to be on seperate servers? Especialy Korea.

[Swords]

Also, rumor had it that (I think) Korea was behind the dDOS attacks of 2004-2005ish.

I think that was more or less people just being scared by the missle testing that Korea was doing at the time, it's pretty common for the populace to blame alot of problems on current hot topics in the news. It's like blaming the decline and dwindling fishing industry entirely on the busted BP well in the gulf, when actually they've been dealing with pollution and overfishing problems for years.

[Byrth]

I think that was more or less people just being scared by the missle testing that Korea was doing at the time, it's pretty common for the populace to blame alot of problems on current hot topics in the news. It's like blaming the decline and dwindling fishing industry entirely on the busted BP well in the gulf, when actually they've been dealing with pollution and overfishing problems for years.

The explanation I heard involved apology-fail and the Japanese invasion of Korea, but perhaps for the same reason.