[Saka]

To those who follow World of Warcraft news, there's new chapter in the NetEase vs Activision Blizzard conflict. NetEase is a former partner of ActivisionBlizzard and publisher of its games in China. The cooperation lasted for 14 years until meeting end rather abruptly in January. So far the games have been down in China and no resolution for the future could be found. It has been reported that NetEase sued Activision Blizzard for ¥300 million Yuan (roughly $43.5 million USD), which is supposed to cover refunds to players and unsold goods.

Sina Technology, a media conglomerate from China said this:

Shanghai NetEase Network Technology Development Co. Ltd. filed a lawsuit in Shanghai against Blizzard Entertainment Ltd. for breach of the series license agreement, seeking a refund of 300 million RMB. The amount includes full refunds paid by NetEase in connection with discontinued games such as World of Warcraft, prepayments for the inventory of unsold games, and prepayment deposits for several undeveloped games. The case also involves World of Warcraft and other CN region game related agreements: contains a number of unequal terms and conditions in favor of Blizzard's unilateral rights, the legality and enforceability of the relevant provisions of the huge dispute.

It is reported that the primary reason for NetEase to sue Blizzard is because Blizzard refused to assume the obligation of refunding players in the CN service and refused to pay NetEase the prepaid commission fee related to the CN service refund, involving an amount of nearly 100 million RMB. Since January 24, "World of Warcraft", "Hearthstone Legend", "Overwatch" and other Blizzard games service shutdown in CN, in order to maximize the protection of CN player's rights, NetEase already paid in full of more than 1.12 million players related to the refund applications for Blizzard games in CN.

In addition, the lawsuit involves the "one-side clause" signed between Blizzard and NetEase, including the requirement that NetEase deliver a huge deposit for several games in advance, while Blizzard did not refund the relevant deposit when the relevant games were not developed.

Currently, there isn't any more detail on this particular event available.

The previous chapter of the conflict involved NetEase tearing down the Blizzard office in China, destroying a Gorehowl statue on a live stream (Gorehowl is a giant axe that belonged to one of the characters in World of Warcraft) and serving "Blizzard Green Tea". Apparently "Green Tea" in modern Chinese slang is a slur referring to a manipulative person keeping up the appearances of a nice and wholesome person, but actually rotten inside.