Saturday, March 28, 2009

March 28, 2009
1
Not sure how legitimate this mail is, as it's not been sent in the usual 3-4 languages, but here ya go. Blizzard is changing their "main" operation from Blizzard inc USA to Blizzard entertainment S.A.S. in France. No noticeable difference to your gaming experience other than those 3 letters. If it's not legit, then it's certainly a HUGE difference from the usual scam mail. Greetings, We have a short but important announcement that we wanted to share with our players. World of Warcraft is currently an operation of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (USA), but starting April 14, 2009, the game operator will be Blizzard Entertainment's central European entity, Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S. (France), and will be referred to as such in the game's Terms of Use going forward. Our European office has been an essential part of our global operations since before the launch of World of Warcraft, and this update better reflects its role within our organization, as well as our continued commitment to our European players. This is an administrative change -- your World of Warcraft game experience will not be impacted. If for any reason you do not agree to this change you may terminate your account with effect from March 31, 2009 by accessing the cancellation feature in the account management page at https://www.wow-europe.com/account/. Note that your continued use of the World of Warcraft service indicates that you agree to the change. We're looking forward to continuing to enhance your World of Warcraft gaming experience in the year ahead, and as always, we wish you happy continued adventures in Azeroth! The World of Warcraft Team

1 comments:

Whisperwolf said...

It's a response to new laws in the US that require ALL providers of any kind of internet services - and that's been extended in the closing days of the Bush era to cover MMORPGs like WoW - to give up any information they collect to the US Government. They have to do it for those poor souls stuck in the land of the no-longer-free but as long as their managing office is no longer in the US they don't have to for anyone else. So everyone else is having their accounts moved to Paris, so they fall under French law, not US law, where privacy is tighter.

It helps indemnify Blizzard Activision against any non-US citizen who might sue them or require them to tell what they've turned over to US authorities.

I think it's a good move on their part, personally.