China’s The9 sued over Warcraft ditching (The Register)- Topic: Warcraft News
A US shareholder is seeking a class action lawsuit against Chinese game operator, The9, over its financially devastating loss of a contract to host World of Warcraft in the country. The lawsuit alleges The9 made numerous false and misleading positive statements to shareholders regarding the company’s health and status of licensing negotiations for WoW , while it was becoming increasingly likely its contract to host the online game would not be renewed. According to the lawsuit, The9 executives repeatedly assured investors its exclusive four-year contact signed in 2005 to host WoW would be renewed, causing artificially inflated stock prices. The agreement was allegedly further strained in 2007 when The9 sold nearly 15 per cent of its ordinary shares to the game maker EA, effectively forcing Blizzard to do business with one of its greatest competitors. A The9 executive told investors the deal would not have any impact on its contract with Blizzard during a conference cal that year â” but only when asked directly did he acknowledge The9 hadn’t actually discussed the matter with Blizzard, according to court documents. read more
[Tags]the9, blizzard, contract, host, lawsuit, wow, warcraft news[/Tags]
