In January, gamers in China lost access to Blizzard games, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo 3, and Overwatch, as a result of a falling out between Activision and its Chinese partner, NetEase, a few months earlier. But a New York Times report says that while the relationship between the two had been strained for some time, the incident that finally ended it may have been a misunderstanding.
The relationship between Activision and NetEase had been under strain for some time, according to the report. For one thing, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was unhappy with NetEase's $100 million investment in Bungie in 2018, because Bungie was behind schedule on Destiny 2 content and Kotick worried the investment, which was to help Bungie become a "multi-franchise entertainment studio," would slow down the work even further. Kotick was also reportedly unhappy with another NetEase investment into a studio founded by a former senior employee at Activision; that resulted in a 2019 agreement that prevented NetEase from hiring former Activision employees or investing in their studios.
