NetEase founder reportedly almost canceled Marvel competitors because it did not use the original IP

Netease's Marvel competitor cannot be described as just a hit Ten million players only three days after release In the weeks since then, developers netease millions of dollars. But a new report shows that Netease CEO and founder William Ding almost canceled the game due to reluctance to use the licensed IP.

Report From Bloombergand describes the current netease: Ding is actively laying off employees, closing studios and withdrawing overseas investments. According to the report, the goal is a smaller, closer portfolio that can avoid recent declines in growth and compete with rivals Tencent and Mihoyo.

Bloomberg reported that part of this contraction almost included the cancellation of Marvel competitors. According to one source, Ding did not want to pay for the licensed Marvel characters, but instead tried to convince the artist to use the original design. The attempt to cancel allegedly lost millions of dollars, but the game was successful anyway.

However, the contraction continues. Just earlier this week, we learned about Marvel rival Seattle team Dismissedthe company claims that it is for “organizational reasons.” Ding has stopped investing in overseas projects over the past year, having previously invested in Japanese and Western studios such as Bungie, Devolver Digital and Blizzard Entertainment. The report shows that Ding believes that not generating hundreds of millions of dollars in games each year is not worth the company's time, although a company spokesman told Bloomberg that Netease did not set “any blanket number that determines the feasibility of new games.”

The workers who spoke to Bloomberg also drew a netease portrait inside, surrounding Ding's fluctuations as a leader. According to this account, Ding quickly made decisions and often changed his mind, forcing employees to work late, and recently hired many recent graduates to outstanding leadership positions, allegedly shutting down so many projects that NetEase may not Any game will be released in China next year.

NetEase's withdrawal from gaming investment comes at a time of continued uncertainty in the gaming industry, especially in the West. Various Year running Despite the high expectations of the company, it has seen massive layoffs, cancellations and studio closures, and despite the high expectations of the company, many expensive and high-profile games are failing.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior journalist at IGN. You can find her post on bluesky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Is there a story tip? Send it to [email protected].