NetEase's Justice Online: Keeping it in the Family or Just Exploiting WoW Refugees?

Recently, NetEase's MMO 'Justice Online' announced that it would open a set of 'WoW Veteran' servers in January 2023. The developers claim this will create a parallel universe for players stranded by the closure of the official World of Warcraft servers in China, promising to provide them with high-quality service and inviting them to witness a 'reconstruction of the game ecosystem.'

However, this nostalgic pitch faced significant backlash within the NGA community. Onlookers bluntly pointed out that this is likely a desperate move for a game that has already seen most of its casual player base leave. Many netizens mocked NetEase's strategy of 'keeping it in the family,' suggesting that the company is simply treating the displaced WoW refugees as fresh targets for monetization.

The comment section was particularly harsh: some condemned NetEase for being 'shameless,' labeling this another instance of 'kicking the player while they're down,' similar to previous controversies involving their music and card game services. Others sarcastically dubbed it a 'misguided attempt to shelter heartbroken WoW players,' while some cynically questioned if a game infamous for 'charging players just to breathe' could ever hope to satisfy a hardcore MMO player base.