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The separation of NetEase and Activision was due, in part, to the delays suffered in the content of Destiny 2 and the low investment of the Chinese giant in the project. And it is that, according to a new report from the New York Times, Activision was not happy with the 100 million dollars invested in Destiny 2, since the development was delayed and could distract the company from its obligations. This, added to the geopolitical tensions that were already dragging, led to the total separation in January of this yearleaving more than 3 million players unable to play Activision games in China.
Thus, partnership that lasted more than 14 years ended abruptly and badly, going so far as to broadcast a video of how they knocked down a statue of a World of Warcraft ax located in front of the NetEase offices in Hangzhou. In renegotiations that take place every few years, the Chinese giant asked Activision to license its games directly to NetEase, which would give NetEase more control over operations, something Activision didn’t quite like.
NetEase and Activision parted ways due in part to Destiny 2 content delays
That same year, NetEase invested in a game development company founded by a person who had until recently been a Senior Activision employee, adding to Activision’s anger. Kotick’s move was to impose a clause that prevented NetEase from hiring anyone who had been linked to Activision in the past or invested in games run by them. At this point, tensions reached such a point that Bobby Kotick and William Ding, CEO of NetEase, had a run-in during a call in which Kotick’s translators felt the Activision CEO was being threatened.
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Following this call and several public messages contradicting what happened, Activision offered to switch to a licensing agreement if they paid 500 million up front instead of payments during the course of the agreement. NetEase stated that this offer was completely illogical. and that everything was ready for the contract to end in January. In this way, what began with a discomfort due to the investment of Destiny 2 and the delays in its content, ended up leading to a review of the association that has ended up disappearing after the accumulated tension between the two.