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NYT: Rift Between Gaming Giants Shows Toll of China’s Economic Crackdown (In-depth details about NetEase-ActiBlizz breakup)

Neha

Neha

Member
Feb 17, 2022
1,183
Checked to see if this was posted here. Nope. It was posted to other forums.

This goes into details about the breakup between the two companies. Talks about the toughening crackdown on private sector companies under Xi's administration and how NetEase either wanted to use it to get a better deal or they wanted to be more secure under these crackdowns (different sources say different things). Also mentions how NetEase and Bobby Kotick had been on a collision course for years before that.

Basically, NetEase wanted ActiBlizz to license out their games to them instead of the agreement they had in place. ActiBlizz said they'd do it if NetEase gives them 500 Million dollars upfront. NetEase said fuck off and then they broke up. I think.

There's also a thing about the Warcraft ax statue that was taken down. NetEase says it was because local laws require them to clear out IP from other companies if they have no deals with them.

www.nytimes.com

Rift Between Gaming Giants Shows Toll of China’s Economic Crackdown

Activision Blizzard and NetEase could not agree on a new deal to distribute video games in China, cutting millions of players from the games in January.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Full text if you hit a paywall:

In January, more than three million Chinese players lost access to Activision's iconic games when the partnership ended, and angry NetEase employees livestreamed the dismantling of a 32-foot sculpture of an ax from World of Warcraft that stood outside NetEase's headquarters in Hangzhou, China.
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Last year, China's $39 billion gaming market contracted for the first time in years. Since 2020, China's antitrust regulators have been reviewing old mergers and joint ventures that drew large amounts of foreign capital. New antitrust amendments last summer significantly raised the fine for failing to comply with those reviews.

In the contract renegotiations with Activision, conducted every few years since the partnership started, NetEase said it wanted to end the companies' joint venture agreement — a business entity that helped NetEase distribute games from Blizzard Entertainment, an Activision subsidiary, in China. NetEase said it wanted Activision to license its games directly to NetEase, which would give NetEase more control over operations and allow it to better comply with the new regulations without Activision's help.

NetEase executives believed Bobby Kotick, Activision's chief executive, had made unreasonable demands over the years, two of the people said. In 2018, NetEase announced a $100 million investment in Bungie, a game developer that worked with Activision to produce Destiny, a popular game. Mr. Kotick was unhappy with the investment because Bungie was behind schedule on developing Destiny content, and he worried the investment would further distract the company from its Destiny obligations, two other people said.
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Those tensions came to a head in the call last October. Mr. Kotick and William Ding, the chief executive of NetEase, discussed the many antitrust regulators around the world scrutinizing Microsoft's $70 billion deal to purchase Activision, two people with knowledge of the call said. Mr. Kotick told Mr. Ding that he would consider the licensing proposal, even though he worried that a switch could rattle Chinese regulators before an important political meeting that month and cede more control over Activision's intellectual property to NetEase.

At some point in the conversation, which was conducted at times through translators, Activision executives felt that Mr. Ding threatened Mr. Kotick. The Chinese government was reviewing the Microsoft acquisition, and the executives recalled that Mr. Ding said NetEase could sway the government either to block or support that deal depending on the outcome of the licensing discussion, according to two people familiar with the call and a document reviewed by The Times.

Mr. Voica, the NetEase spokesman, denied that Mr. Ding had threatened Activision. He said Activision was continuing to "harass and taunt companies and regulators worldwide."
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mod edit: Please don't post full articles
 
Last edited:
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Neha

Neha

Member
Feb 17, 2022
1,183
Yerffej said:
I don't think that's allowed.
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Oh, didn't know. I think I have seen people post full text from articles here before so I did it. This is my first non-trailer thread in this site. I mostly post in Korean forums, and on some forums it's allowed (theqoo) while on others it isn't (ruliweb).
I will remove this and keep this in mind next time I post articles.
 
Yerffej

Yerffej

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,992
Neha said:
Oh, didn't know. I think I have seen people post full text from articles here before so I did it. This is my first non-trailer thread in this site. I mostly post in Korean forums, and on some forums it's allowed (theqoo) while on others it isn't (ruliweb).
I will remove this and keep this in mind next time I post articles.
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Well, I say think. I'm not entirely sure. Best to cover your butt, though.
 
Lunchbox

Lunchbox

ƃuoɹʍ ʇᴉ ƃuᴉop ǝɹ,noʎ 'ʇɥƃᴉɹ sᴉɥʇ pɐǝɹ noʎ ɟI
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,548
Rip City
I feel bad for people who've been playing for so long like the man in the bottom. Losing internet friends is a bummer too.
 
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