Bungie Looks Towards China After $100 Million Investment
Bungie Looks Towards China After $100 Million Investment
NetEase, a colossal internet technology company out of China, has recently invested $100 million into Bungie. The investment was through stock, meaning that NetEase now owns a minority stake in the company and will have its own seat at the board of directors. The move comes as a surprise to some considering that Bungie has never released a game into mainland China. For Bungie, this could mean a move into the lucrative Chinese market or even into mobile.
CEO Pete Parsons recently spoke about the move.
“We certainly have a lot to learn from them in mainland China. They also have a significant amount of experience in mobile we don’t have… We want to be able to build games that are inspiring people from around the world, and this partnership in part will allow us to do that.”
While Parsons was quick to point out that no deals had been made yet, Bungie is certainly looking to China to grow a number of their markets.
China is the biggest spender in microtransactions and mobile gaming, and with Bungie out of that market, it is missing out on what could be hundreds of millions of dollars. An expansion of Destiny 2 into China could pull in a huge influx of players and cash, something the title could use considering its middling performance. Of course, the only thing in the way of that is Bungie’s current partnership with Activision.
In 2010, Bungie entered into a 10-year publishing deal with Activision. That means that while Bungie owns the rights to any games it makes, Activision is more or less in charge of distribution. If Bungie wants to move into China, even with NetEase at the board, they’ll need to clear it with Activision first. There’s little reason to expect Activision wouldn’t be allow an expansion though. The only possible reason would be concerns of market overlap between games like Overwatch and Destiny 2. As long as Activision believes it will profit at the end of the day, it will give the okay.
This means that one of the most likely avenues for Bungie to branch into is mobile. Parsons explicitly mentioned the mobile experience of NetEase, a larger reference to the massive mobile market in China. If nothing else, Bungie is certainly going to be looking into making its own mobile titles, something that Activision would probably give the go-ahead on because there would be no conflict of interest.
The only certainty is that gaming is turning towards China, and every developer is trying to get in on it.
Also…
Don’t forget to check out some of our other weekly pieces, The LoL Weekly Preview, Recap and Highlight, as well as something I’m Forgetting and Week in Review.
