Prytania Media makes Netease to blame for opportunities for opportunities to close Crop Circle

The media owners of Prytania, Annie and Jeff Stream, sue Netase for defamation, unfair trade practices and interference in the business relationships that, according to the lawsuit, led to the destruction of the company and its several subsidiaries: Crop Circle Games, Possibilities, Fang & Claw and Dawon Entertainment. Each of these studios switched off in 2024 and all of their employees released the trunks. In the case of crop circle and possibilities, the tribes accused the closure of the employees who allegedly triggered information about their studios to the press (and in particular an unpublished Kotaku story about the possibilities of the possibility) and the inability to receive funds.

Netease was an investor in Crop Circle Games. According to the documents submitted in court, Prytania Media had about 75% of this special subsidiary and NetAse 25%. Both Annie and Jeff Stream resigned from their positions within the studio when submitting the lawsuit and leaving Netase -Executive Chenglin Han, the remaining board member. Technically speaking, the lawsuit was Also Submitted against Crop Circle – Bring Han as a remaining board member. Lawyer Michael Magner, who represents Netase, said in accompanying documents that the lawsuit of the harvest circle “is effectively sued to defeat the jurisdiction of diversity – a tactic that is improperly, fraudulently and an inappropriate basis for the defense of the jurisdiction of diversity.”

The lawsuit that polygon checked was submitted to the state of Louisiana in January before Netase submitted the case in March. In a letter to Netease Ceo Ding Lei in January, Steven Griffith Jr., who represented Prytania Media and the tribes, claimed that Netease spread “false and defamed statements that caused Prytania Media's decline”. In the lawsuit, he said, they are looking for compensation for 900 million US dollars and triple an earlier evaluation of the company of $ 300 million. Griffith also claimed that Netase and in particular the NetAse employees Han spread “defamatory rumors” that Prytania Media was involved in financial fraud. The tribes are responsible for all problems, which indicates that Netase was not interested in complying with the US Ministry of Financial Regulations.

“I can share details on our next call, but the high -ranking news is that we want to stay away from the radar [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] That can be quite difficult, ”Schiffith wrote to a Netase representative in the letter. “Geopolitical things already cause trouble to say the truth in our business efforts in North America.”

With regard to the lawsuit, Netease provided the following explanation of polygon:

The allegations of Prytania Media and his founders Annie and Jeff Stream are completely without merits, and we are emphatic and will vigorously defend ourselves against them. Our recording as a global gaming company speaks for itself and we are still obliged to run business with integrity. We are confident that the legal process will confirm our position and will shed light on the real reasons for the decline of the trunks studios.

The tribes say that they have asked the NetAse to comply with the US law in relation to its harvest circuit investments, but that the NetAse representatives “became more and more enemy and aggressive”. They claim that Netease is hesitating to comply with these laws because it should be identified by “owners and board members, the members of the [Chinese Communist Party] and their position within the KPCH and the existence of its CCP party organizations [sic] Members and the inspection that she does through NetAse. “The lawsuit also claims that Netease” has been avoided to confirm their compliance in the United States “, since the Netase executives wanted to emigrate to the USA, including Lei, who allegedly intended to enter a manor house bought by Elon Musk in the amount of $ 29 million.

In the lawsuit it is claimed that the rumors about financial mismanagement, which finally spread to the press, are an attempt by Netase to “breastfeed the concerns of the concerns of the media of Prytania”. The tribes say that they have learned about these rumors when an investor, transcend find, with concerns about “fraud and abuse of funds” in Crop Circle Games. Andrew Sheppard, the managing director of the fund, allegedly confirmed that Netease's report came. From the lawsuit:

Netease announced this gaming company that Crop Circle Games had “examined” fraudulent activities on several bases. First, it was incorrectly stated that “[f]And it had been transferred to other subsidiaries without the prior consent of the responsible stakeholders of Crop Circle Games. “Second,“ Quarterly Financials [were] potentially material inaccurate. “Finally, Netase claimed that“ many key miners [had] was released “since” the potential leak “of the above inaccurate information.

The tribes also contest that “key employees” were released because of the leak, “but because of the financial state of the company”. Transcend finally applied for “full access to all financial and testing information”. When the information spread, the tribes said that investors withdrew from discussions with Crop Circle and Fang & Claw. “One after the other had to be closed each of Prytania Media's studios,” wrote lawyers in the lawsuit. “Ultimately, Prytania Media had to be closed.”

The possibility of possibilities was closed in April 2024, the Crop Circle preceded. The other studios, which were part of Prytania Media, followed. “There was not a single organization of all kinds that was ready to invest in the continued game development,” Annie Stream wrote in a post that has now been deleted on the Crop Circle website. The dissolution of these studios surprised their employees, all of whom were released without notice.

Prytania Media was founded by Annie and Jeff Storne in 2021, with the success of Jeff Stamm's first studio, arenanet. Arenanet was founded in 2000 and is best known for it Guild wars. Jeff Stor Condition of expiry. Untote Labs was taken over by Microsoft in 2018 and was taken out in 2022 due to suspected “sexism, bullying and burnout” according to a Kotaku report. Before the foundation of these studios, Jeff Stor worked StarcraftPresent DiabloAnd World of Warcraft.

Prytania Media was sued in August 2024 by Omnipresent Group, an employee management and personnel company, because it “does not pay the rendered invoices”. In March 2024, Omnipresent announced his contract with Prytania Media. The company owes omnipresent $ 212,019.18; In court documents, Prytania Media accepted the judgment and comparison amount of $ 218,250. That was in October 2024, and in December 2024 Omniplesent submitted documents in which the Prytania media did not comply with the payment period.

The complaint of the tribes against Netase was assigned to a judge before the Federal Supreme Court. Polygon turned to both sides to get a comment.

Update: This story has been updated to record new details from a separate lawsuit against Prytania Media and an explanation of Netase.