Earlier this month, The9 opened a site for a new game called World of Fight ... The font used in the flash banner of the site is the same font used in World of Warcraft and we can assume that they will try to rename the game and keep the players on their own version of the game.

I'm pretty sure they would break a ton of copyright laws by doing that but it depends a lot on their contracts with Blizzard and if they actually manage to launch the game and start developing new content, we might see another version of WoW on the asian market. As of today, I would say that it's still very unlikely, Blizzard won't give up easily and The9 doesn't really have any experience in game development.

However, Electronic Arts owns 15% of The9 and one of the few possibility is to try to gather as many players as possible on the new site and ultimately change it into Warhammer Online. Of course this is just speculation from my side, but it seems that the background picture looks surprisingly similar to a starting zone from Warhammer.

The9 could not be reached for comment. Chinese language media reported that people from the company's PR department refused to offer details of World of Fight.

Industry observers wonder whether The9 is launching a "shanzhai," or knockoff, World of Warcraft in hopes of keeping WoW players. They point to the experience of another Chinese online company, Shanda Interactive Entertainment. When the South Korean game company Actoz Soft terminated Shanda’s license for game Legend of Mir 2 in 2003, Shanda launched its own game called World of Legend.

Analyst Zhao Xufeng from Shanghai-based research firm iResearch said that the similar name and site may draw players to its new game new game. "With the topic staying in the center of attention, The9 can easily attract attention by doing this," he said, but added, "Chinese players have high loyalty for the game, and technically, The9 does not have the technical ability to copy WoW."