Too true. I don't think The9 got away with doing exactly the same thing without paying someone off. Wonder what went wrong there.

But there would be one bright side if this happened. No more Chinese Gold Farmers!

You mean, a BIGGER bribe. Someone finally realized how much WoW is worth in China and decided to squeeze it for more money and/or favors. I bet that some "mysterious benefactors" (=gold sellers) will quietly assist with any necessary payments/complications so Blizzard will not have to open its wallet too far. This "major issue" will disappear from the news within a month and everyone involved will smile smugly and claim, "don't worry, it is all taken care of."

@Calarius

Keep in mind that most of the gold farmers you are probably referring to (namely ones that farm for gold sellers that sell to players in the West) play on NA and EU servers, otherwise they wouldn't be able to sell gold to you in the first place. This won't affect them at all since they are already playing with a NA/EU client on NA/EU server unless they great firewall of China all of a sudden decides to block those connections. In other words, those people did business with Blizzard in the US and Europe, not necessarily Blizzard/the9 in China.