if you're feeling conspiratorial, you can take this even further. they got the world hooked on Fable for 3 days before taking it away as a "the first hit is free" strategy. now with USG mandate to blame they can require government registration to access, cut of China for good, and people will more readily sign up because the brief public access showed how good it was. now almost certainly none of this was planned in advance, but it is very convenient for Anth's goals...