Chinese company The9 is looking rather healthy this year, as an industry analyst recently increased his fourth quarter estimates for the company based on the positive reception World of Warcraft is getting in China, raising the company's share prices as a result.

According to CNN, American Depositary Shares of The9 rose US$ 1.24 (6.3 percent) to US$ 20.97 in afternoon trading. During the past year, the shares have been trading between US$ 19.18 and US$ 52.44.

The news itself isn't wholly surprising, however. Gamer interest towards World of Warcraft rose in the fourth quarter due to the release of the Burning Crusade expansion in China in September.

Currently, there is only one thing tampering the enthusiasm this news is bringing for The9, and that has something to do with The9's connections with Electronic Arts. You see, EA has a 15 percent stake in The9, which is problematic for Blizzard's parent company Vivendi, seeing as Vivendi and Activision are joining forces to try and rival Electronic Arts.

While the future may look good right now for The9, there's no telling what this might do once Activision and Vivendi complete the merge. One thing's for sure, though: we hope the gamers don't lose out on their WoW time because of it.