Chinese Bank Offers World Of Warcraft Co-Branded Credit Cards

China Merchants Bank Friday has launched two co-branded credit cards with Shanghai-based online-game operator The9 Ltd. and United States-based software developer Blizzard Entertainment for the online game World of Warcraft. The game, commonly known as WoW, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. "The card is available in two variants: a China UnionPay-branded card and a Visa-branded dual-currency card," a bank spokesperson tells CardLine Global. "However, one customer can apply only for one type of card." The dual-currency card uses U.S. dollars and yuan. Chinese World of Warcraft players can link their game accounts to the cards. The bank and companies also will share their customer bases, China Merchants says. In 2007, China had more than 40 million online-game players, according to the China Game Industry Survey Report. As of the end of May, World of Warcraft had more than 10 million subscribers worldwide.