NetEase Games Employees Reportedly Arrested On Bribery, Money Laundering Charges

NetEase Games have been building up the anticipated hype surrounding their forthcoming releases Destiny: Rising and Marvel Rivals, the latter of which will be launching this December. The developer has been making daily news announcements for each of their playable heroes (and villains), which recently confirmed Moon Knight as the new Duelist character joining the roster, and they have found themselves at the center of a wave of controversy.

Reports from the Chinese publication site Leifeng.com (h/t Eurogamer) and Bloomberg detailed that two NetEase Games executives and several employees have reportedly been arrested for alleged corruption charges. Furthermore, it's reported that NetEase Games fired the two executives at the center of the controversy along with the alleged employees; however, the developer are still investigating the alleged corruption charges and have provided no further information as of writing.

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).

However, the Chinese publication site has confirmed the identities of the executives who have been reportedly charged and subsequently fired from NetEase Games, general manager Xiang Lang and their esports lead, Jin Yuchen. Other employees implicated in the corruption charges were removed from the developer's internal systems as the company computers were "uniformly replaced with compliance promotional materials."

The developer initiated this latest anti-corruption investigation, which had reportedly "lured the enemy into a trap" to find the individuals involved. As the local Chinese authorities are investigating further, no additional information has been disclosed to the media, which we'll continue to follow as NetEase Games continues to gear up for the global launch of Marvel Rivals next month.