Aug. 24th, Habbo China closed its business. Its website (unavailable now) said:

Dear visitors:
unfortunately we have some bad news for you: since August 24, 2007 Habbo.cn has been closed at least temporarily, and possibly for a long time. :(

Our Habbo Staff is currently working hard to find a way to continue the service in the future - you will be informed about the situation as soon as we know. We are really sorry about this. Meanwhile you can choose to visit other Habbo services all over the world.

From Aug. 10th to Spt. 4th, Habbo and FreeStyle co-hosted an event: Habbo registration winning FreeStyle grocery coupons. But before the end of this event, Habbo China closed its business.

Habbo launched its business in China in Spt. 2006. But only after one year’s striving, it’s out.

According to a post named: Habbo Hotel: Chinese Market Too Challenging to Be Worthwhile on Virtual World News : There has been some speculation that  the departure of the platform was due to the lack of Shockwave penetration in China, but Sulake, the parent corporation behind Habbo, says that this was mainly a business decision.

The operator of Habbo China is Guangzhou Optisp . It has been acquired by CDC Games International recently. Guangzhou Optisp is now experiencing a strategy transforming: Cutting off its Guangzhou game R&D center and its Beijing wireless service and focusing on game operation. It has been running several on-line games such as Legend 2005 Disaster of Snow, EVE online, Come on baby online,  SOS online etc. The shutting down of Habbo must be a part of its strategy.

Why such a successful virtual world failed so quickly in China?

The reason is quite paradoxical: it’s success blocked the way to its next success. Habbo has been anther failed case of foreign companies entering China.

The parent company disregarded the Chinese partner’s advice of lowering the price of some kinds of virtual goods. They thought the uniform pricing method works well all over the world, So there is no reason to change it in China. On the other hand, the parent company’s technology support is not good. The China’s partner had to deal with a lot of technique problems so as to neglect marketing endeavor.

However, I think the most radical reason is the Habbo product itself. After a whole year’s promotion, Habbo China only got 0.3 million users. There is no doubt that it’s an unsuccessful product.

First, Habbo’s characters cannot fit most Chinese. I don’t think the characters from Japan and Korea can attract Chinese very well. But Habbo’s characters are as simple as those of DOS games. Do you think people are willing to recognize Habbo’s simplism?

Second, Habbo is too different. Chinese players cannot understand it. There is no fighting, no upgrade. How could such a thing be called a game? Guangzhou Optisp carried the duty of educating users upon its shoulder.

Beijing Red Mushroom will public itsBaobaoBengbeng which is very similar to Habbo. Habbo’s failure must be a fortune for Baobaobengbeng.