NetEase To Reportedly Sue Blizzard For $43.5 Million
Back in August, we reported that Blizzard would go offline in China after a failure to reach a license agreement with publisher NetEase. Due to the Chinese government's strict rules, any foreign media company must go through a state-approved intermediary in order to do business in the country. The two could not come to an agreement, leading to Blizzard shutting down all operations and services in China.
The disagreement was anything but professional, with both parties pointing fingers and taunting each other publicly. In the latest development in this story, NetEase is reportedly going to sue Blizzard for $43.5 million. The reason for doing so is for refunds for the games that have been discontinued (thanks, WowHead).
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As reported by Chinese media outlet Sina Technology, "NetEase Network Technology Development Co., Ltd. recently filed a lawsuit in Shanghai against Blizzard Entertainment Co., Ltd. for violating a series of licensing agreements, demanding the refund of 300 million in arrears. This amount includes refunds for discontinued games such as "World of Warcraft" that NetEase has paid in full, prepayments for unsold game inventory, and prepaid deposits for several undeveloped games."
The whole situation is still ambiguous – NetEase has reportedly not filed the suit yet, meaning the two parties could possibly come to some sort of settlement. In fact, there's a chance the two could still even come to an agreement on the licensing, resuming Blizzard operations and services in China. However, that seems like a stretch, given that it has shut down offices in the country.
As mentioned, it wasn't the most amicable disagreement, with NetEase comparing it to a cheating
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