According to a recent New York Times reportthe breakdown of commercial relations between Activision Blizzard and NetEase would be due in part to the fact that the CEO of ABK, Bobby Kotickit would have felt “threatened” from the Chinese company.
The New York Times detailed what would happen between Activision Blizzard and NetEase prior to the announcement of the separation between the two companies. According to the report, a meeting between Activision Blizzard and NetEase was held in October to discuss the future of their 14-year partnership, but both sides left the meeting with “drastically different interpretations of what was being said.” according to four people familiar with the situation and based on a document the NYT has seen.
As a result, World of Warcraft is no longer available in China since January because the two companies have been unable to reach an agreement. The report notes that the tensions between the two companies had developed before the contract renewal, with NetEase executives feeling that Kotick had made “unreasonable demands” over the years. In addition, NetEase invested $100 million in Bungie in 2018 to make games other than Destiny, which Kotick apparently didn’t like, as Bungie was late on making Destiny content.
In the October call Kotick spoke with NetEase CEO William Ding and other executives about antitrust authorities investigating Microsoft’s potential acquisition of Activision Blizzard King and, it seems, at some point in the conversation that took place between translators the executives of Activision they felt that Ding “threatened” Kotick.
Executives believed that NetEase could influence the Chinese government – which was currently reviewing the acquisition – and push it to block the deal, depending on the outcome of any licensing agreements between Activision Blizzard and NetEase. Alexandru Voica, spokesman for NetEase, denied that Ding threatened Activision.
Activision Blizzard then offered NetEase a agreement to extend the contractbut the latter refused, stating, “Considering the unequal, unfair and other conditions attached to the cooperation, the two sides could not reach an agreement in the end.”
Players in China cannot currently play any Activision Blizzard games – aside from Diablo Immortal, which has a separate deal – although the company is planning to return to the region and is in talks with other Chinese firms to distribute its games. .
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