Activision Blizzard has received a new lawsuit from NetEase after their… Less than amicable licensing split that left Chinese players without access to games like World of Warcraft and Overwatch. According to recent reports, the company is seeking ¥300 million Yuan (roughly $43.5 million USD) to cover refunds for discontinued games and services alongside compensation for unsold merchandise inventory on undeveloped games.
The Chinese media conglomerate Sina Technology was the first to report this lawsuit. According to it, Blizzard violated several licensing agreements. NetEase is also calling several “unequal provisions favoring Blizzard Entertainment” in the licensing agreements between the two companies, such as bet-on agreements and even large deposits from NetEase to insulate Activision Blizzard from the risk.
According to the report, the primary reason for NetEase to sue Blizzard is that Blizzard refused to assume the obligation of refunding players in the China service and refused to pay NetEase the prepaid commission fee related to the Chinese service refund, involving an amount of nearly 100 million RMB. NetEase has already paid over 1.12 million players in full to refund applications for Blizzard games in China.
In addition, the lawsuit involves a “one-side clause” signed between Blizzard and NetEase. This clause includes the requirement that NetEase delivers a large deposit for several games from Blizzard in advance. As you might expect, Blizzard did not refund the relevant deposit when the relevant games were not developed, even after the partnership between the two fell through.
As we all know, the tensions between NetEase and Activision Blizzard had been escalating before the deal’s expiration. According to a New York Times report, simmering tensions between the long-term partners over a license renewal came to a head during a conference call last October. A senior figure at NetEase talked about the reasons behind the lack of an extension of the deal a few months ago. The President of Global Investment and Partnership, Simon Zhu, explained that the reason behind the partnership breaking was due to the actions of a “jerk” behind the scenes.
