NetEase Games Employees Reportedly Arrested On Bribery, Money Laundering Charges

As a long-time fan of NetEase Games and their captivating titles, I must admit that the recent news about corruption charges and arrests of executives has left me quite taken aback. Having followed their journey closely, it’s disheartening to see such allegations surface, especially when we were all eagerly awaiting the launch of Marvel Rivals.


NetEase Games are generating excitement for their upcoming releases Destiny: Rising and Marvel Rivals, with the latter set to debut in December. The developer has been consistently sharing updates about each playable character, including Moon Knight who was recently revealed as the latest Duelist addition. However, this has also sparked a wave of debate.

According to reports from Leifeng.com (thanks to Eurogamer) and Bloomberg, it appears that two high-ranking officials at NetEase Games, along with several employees, have been taken into custody due to suspected corruption allegations. It’s been reported that the company has let go of these two key figures, as well as any other employees implicated in the controversy; however, they are continuing their investigation into the alleged corruption and have not released any additional details at this time.

Detailed in an internal memo circulated to all NetEase Games staff revealed that nine employees, including two executives, were dismissed due to alleged bribery and money laundering charges, which are being explained to have affected multiple providers. These charges are estimated to amount to “between 800 million (around $111,3M / £86,3M) and 1 billion yuan ($139,1M / £107,8M),” despite the reported contract value being around 2 billion yuan ($278,2M / £215,8M).

It has been confirmed by a Chinese publication that Xiang Lang, general manager of NetEase Games, and Jin Yuchen, their esports lead, are among those who have been reportedly charged and subsequently dismissed. Other employees implicated in corruption allegations were also removed from the company’s internal systems as new computers promoting compliance replaced the old ones.

Since the Chinese authorities are still delving deeper into the matter, they haven’t revealed any extra details to the press yet. We’ll keep a close eye on developments as NetEase Games prepares for the worldwide debut of Marvel Rivals within the next month.

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2024-11-11 11:43