NetEase Games fires two senior executives over money laundering and bribery allegations

Some NetEase Games employees were reportedly arrested on charges of bribery and money laundering.

As received by Chinese site Leifeng.com and reported by Bloomberg LawNetEase Games’ general manager Xiang Lang, along with NetEase’s e-sports lead Jin Yuchen and several other employees, were detained on anti-corruption charges.

NetEase Games, the developer of Marvel Rivals and Destiny: Rising, announced in an internal memo to employees that it has fired a total of nine employees due to bribery allegations. The case is thought to affect 28 suppliers of the Chinese mega-corporation in a case worth around a billion yuan – that’s £107.5m / $139.3m.

The names of those involved appear to have been removed from NetEase’s internal systems, and shortly after the arrests staff working at the studio reported that their usual computer screensavers had been replaced with reminders of NetEase’s compliance protocols.

This is reportedly NetEase’s second anti-corruption investigation since September 2023.

A NetEase spokesperson said police are currently investigating the alleged corruption charges but would not disclose further details at this time.