A number of employees at Marvel Rivals and Destiny: Rising developer NetEase Games have been arrested, according to a new report.
According to Chinese outlet Leifeng — with additional context via Bloomberg Law — nine employees, including two senior executives, were arrested for allegedly laundering money.
Per the report, the contract value appears to be worth 2 billion yuan, which is just about $278.6 million. In actual money, it’s a bit lower at 800 million to 1 billion yuan, or $111.4-$139.3 million.
The two executives implicated in the case are Xiang Lang and Jin Yuchen. Xiang served as the head of NetEase’s esports division while Jin was the head of the company’s publishing side. Neither executive is still with the company.
Names of other employees at the company weren’t made available. At least one who was questioned by outlet Yicaiglobal has denied any claims of money laundering.
The allegedly corruption took place within the segments of the company the two executives worked, the company said. They also confirmed that 27 different companies have been blacklisted due to links to fraud.
Other details of the incidents couldn’t be shared due to there still being an active investigation. More information will be provided at a later date.
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Damn… NetEase needs to expand though buy Itagaki Games, Kamuy Inc, Bokeh Studio, and sign guys like Yu Suzuki, Hideaki Itsuno, Tomokazu Fukushima, Kazunobu Uehara, and Koji Igarashi. Also fund Red Ash from Level 5 and Inafune and then Mistwalker projects. Still waiting on updates for Nagoshi’s new game, the BlazBlue teams new game, and whatever Suda is cooking up.