Santa Clara, CA-June 30, 2010-Today ChangYou.com (US) admitted that the creepy emails, FaceBook updates, and Tweets from their Blade Wars MMO team have not been authorized by corporate officers, lending credibility to growing public speculation that the missives are a cry for help. The first communication to attract media attention was an unsigned letter sent out to multiple gaming sites on Tuesday, June 29, 2010. Titled “Dispatch: Day 13,” the memorandum reads like an electronic journal entry from an increasingly desperate employee. Complaining of stench, moans, and “undead monstrosities,” the letter implies that members of the Blade Wars development team are on the run:
I’ve been making my way east toward the Devil’s Camp area and I feel like these beasts are right on my heels. Hopefully, the rumors are true and there are people who know how to fight where I’m going. Whether or not they know how to defend themselves, the invasion is coming and its coming fast.
Invited to comment on the release, a Public Relations representative for the company would say only, “Brains…” Members of the Independent Press later traced an email back to the Blade Wars Associate Producer’s account that may have bearing on the strange goings-on:
Date: July 2, 2010 @ 4pm (PST).
Title: Blade Wars Zombie Independence Day
Denizens of the Blade Wars world – beware! The countryside is going to be invaded by hordes of zombies! Log in to the Whiplash server to find out where they will be attacking – it could be anywhere!
Brave combatants who fight off the zombie hordes – and possibly defeat whatever might be creating them – will be rewarded with the special treasures the monsters carry.
Blade Wars, an innovative new action/fighting free-to-play (F2P) MMORPG, opened to the public on June 24, 2010. To this date, no fatalities have been reported. For more information, please go to BladeWarsMMO.com
ChangYou.com (US) Inc. is a subsidiary of ChangYou.com (NASDAQ: CYOU), a leading developer and operator of online games in China. ChangYou.com began operations in 2003 as Sohu.com’s massively multi-player online games (“MMORPG”) business unit, before the carve-out as a separate, stand-alone company in December 2007 and subsequent listing on the NASDAQ Global Select Market in April 2009. ChangYou.com now operates many of the most popular MMORPGs in China, and now operates three mmorpgs in the United States, Dragon Oath, Blade Wars, and Zentia.