Despite public outcry, Blizzard remains adamant that Hearthstone pro Chung Ng Wai, better known as blitzchung's, ban should remain in place.
On October 7, 2019, Blizzard managed to completely eliminate any goodwill it had accumulated in the gaming community by banning blitzchung from competitive play and stripping him of his Grandmaster status after he discussed the Hong Kong protests on a Blizzard-sponsored stream. According to Blizzard, the player violated a rule prohibiting any action that "brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image." The company not only banned blitzchung from competition for a year, but withheld his prize money and even fired the two casters conducting the interview.
What happened was pretty straightforward. blitzchung wore a gas mask to a post-match interview with two casters on Blizzard's official Taiwanese stream. He also shouted, "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age!" as the casters ducked and covered behind their desks. Blizzard cut the stream and scrubbed the videos, imposing harsh penalties all around. This over-the-top reaction angered everyone.
The Impact Of Blitzchung's Ban On Blizzard
It was one of the few times in recent history that the political Right, Left, and everyone in between unified behind a common enemy: Blizzard, whose initial response to the controversy was a promise on Chinese social media to always safeguard the "dignity" of the country. Despite this, Blizzard claimed that its "relationship in China had no influence" on the decision. It's worth noting that this relationship includes Chinese tech giant Tencent's 5 percent stake in Blizzard's parent company.
Major sponsors dropped Hearthstone altogether. Employees staged a walkout. Members of Congress from both major political parties wrote a sternly-worded letter condemning Blizzard. Even Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan expressed support for reversing the ban. A Magic: The Gathering pro spoke out in support of blitzchung during an official event (and notably received no punishment whatsoever). Many even began using Overwatch character Mei as a pro-Hong Kong symbol.
Caving to public pressure, Blizzard eventually reduced blitzchung's ban and gave back his prize money. blitzchung thanked Blizzard, but many wonder why they didn't just reverse the ban entirely.
Blitzchung's Ban: What's Happening Now?
In November, Blizzard President J. Allen Brack offered a non-apology at Blizzcon, admitting that the company "moved too quickly" with regard to blitzchung and was "too slow" to talk to fans about it. He didn't explain why Blizzard moved so quickly to express support for a brutal Communist regime, nor did Blizzard repeal the ban -- something they would have done if they regretted anything. While the anger of the masses still exists, Blizzard has not backed down from the decision to ban blitzchung, who returns to competitive play this year as a member of Tempo Storm.
The people of Hong Kong, Blitzchung's home, continue their fight against Communist oppression and Blizzard remains unrepentant in its decision to dole out punishments to those who expressed not a political opinion, but a generally agreed-upon truth: that humans should be free from abuse. Clearly, the company has its priorities, and its relationship with China is one of the main ones. The country is, after all, the largest gaming market in the world.
Blizzard isn't the only gaming company to bow to China for financial reasons, but it is a glaring symptom of a larger issue. At what point do gaming companies' financial interests dwarf basic human rights issues? Blizzard's opinion seems to be that simple expressions of support are "the line."