Said to have cost around $150,000 a day to maintain the closed beta servers.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade screenshot

Following a period of over two months downtime, World of Warcraft is now operational again in China under new operator NetEase.

Blizzard switched Chinese operators on June 7 from The9 to rival NetEase, with the hope of earning a higher royalty rate on the game. The changeover wasn't straightforward though, with the Chinese government scrutinising all aspects of the game, having taken particular offence to the depiction of the undead to younger gamers.

With the game now deemed suitable for use, gamers can once again log in and will be able to use any game time they purchased prior to the downtime. Veteran players will be given a special pet. New players are also able to sign up on the game's official Chinese website.

While the operation of the MMO is now back to normal, the downtime is estimated to have cost in the region of $150,000 each day, simply to maintain the game servers for the closed beta that has been running since July 30.

Via Gamasutra