The Chinese tech giant is seeking to recover a small amount of money from the publisher, which is being eyed by Microsoft, for refunds on games it no longer supports.

We reported earlier that NetEase and Activision Blizzard King had parted ways in China after fourteen years, officially (licensed and accepted by Chinese censors) ending access to World of Warcraft and Overwatch 2 in the world’s second most populous country (India has taken over the top spot). NetEase now demands compensation for unsold merchandise items (t-shirts, mugs, etc.) and refunds around the amount spent on games and services that were stopped. Three hundred million renminbi/yuan, that’s what the story mentions. It’s worth about $43.5 million.

China’s Sina Technology was one of the first media outlets to report on the lawsuit. It is alleged that Blizzard failed to honor several licensing agreements and that the balance sheet was tipped heavily in favor of the foreign company with uneven deals. There was also talk of bet-on contracts and large deposits from NetEase to insulate the publisher from risk. Blizzard reportedly did not take on the obligation to reimburse NetEase, nor did it give NetEase the commission it was due to pay in connection with the shutdown of the Chinese service. The Chinese tech giant has claimed 100 million renminbi/yuan and has already compensated 1.12 million Chinese users out of its resources.

There is also talk of a “one-side clause” between Activision Blizzard and NetEase. It includes a requirement for NetEase to provide Blizzard with a large upfront payment to secure more games for its partner. Blizzard has not repaid the deposit, as the games in question have not been developed even after the relationship between the two companies has broken down.

So Activision Blizzard could face another lawsuit. What was Microsoft thinking when it went after this publisher? If they own the company, they will have a lot of work to do to clean up these cases.

Source: WCCFTech