Blizzard Suspends Hearthstone Player For Hong Kong Support, Pulls Prize Money

[ragnarok]

Oooh, you're just adorable.

ESL and Riot are capitulating to China's demands with regard to HK, apparently.

EDIT Apparently an Overwatch for Switch launch event was also canceled. Whadya know.

We all saw it coming, VoK. It only proves Blizzard's spinelessness, unwilling to face angry fans.

[Visions of Khas]

The members of the American University team that held up a "Free Hong Kong" sign during a match have all just been handed 6 month bans.

[Undeadprotoss]

The members of the American University team that held up a "Free Hong Kong" sign during a match have all just been handed 6 month bans.

Damn, that really sucks, and that's not helping Blizzard at all. I think they're doing that to try and appear consistent but they're of course consistent in the wrong direction!

I don't think you can believe in the stories of SC1, WC3, and early WoW and still act this way.

[ragnarok]

The members of the American University team that held up a "Free Hong Kong" sign during a match have all just been handed 6 month bans.

Now if only Blizzard would only be smart enough to realize all they did was create martyrs.

[The_Blade]

The members of the American University team that held up a "Free Hong Kong" sign during a match have all just been handed 6 month bans.

To be fair, this particular group mocked Blizzard for not punishing them with the same ban as Blitzcrunch and forfeited the tournament despite having a decent chance at winning.

Watching the original interview and reading through a proper transcript, it seems that Blitzcrunch made his intentions clear before the interview started. Both casters allowed his show to happen, so a ban on their actions can be explained.

I don't think they will be able to get out of this PR nightmare on the west anytime soon, but the stock market has settled that so far Act:Blizz are meeting their targets. If this year's BlizzCon fails as bad as last year, we might see a significant dip.

[KaiserStratosTygo]

"To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize"

In the midst of Blizzard's ongoing silence, there are small tidbits here and there.



It seems Blizzard is willing to penalize China's subjects, but refrains -- so far! -- from attacking Americans' free speech.

Whenever financial trade between countries is conducted, cultural exchange inevitably follows. And with so many American-based companies capitulating to China's demands, I foresee an ongoing erosion of civil rights in our country.

And that's reason #5832185 we need to do away with oligarchy in this country.

[ragnarok]

Then you take the first step for to do that, Stratos.

[Nissa]

Lets be honest, if Scarlet from the sc2 pro scene screamed "transgender rights!", she would not get banned. This isn't an attack on lgbt, just arguing that the ban is 100% about that Chinese $$$ and probably not about keeping their tournament free of messages. In fact, I hope someone test them on it. Would be interesting to see how Blizzard tries to get out of that one

Let's be fair, though. The consequences of pissing off that particular crowd are...well, probably exaggerated, but Blizzard is probably afraid of pissing them off.
Give Blizz some credit. It's probably more like only 80% China money. I'm willing to believe it's at least 20% no platforming. After all, a purpose of entertainment is there to help us take a break from political issues.

Edit: *sees new article*

....This kind of thing makes me wish the beer in my avatar was drinkable.

[Visions of Khas]

Congress sent a bipartisan letter to Blizzard condemning them for their actions and urging the ban on Blitzchung be reversed.

The letter in full can be found here, signed by Rob Wyden, Marco Rubio, AOC, Mike Gallagher and Tom Malinowski.

Really, to get both the Rs and Ds to slap you down is a mean feat.

I, for one, am warmed by this bonfire started by ActiBlizz.

[Turalyon]

^ Haha, I remember the days when it was only a minority that hated on Blizz, now everyone's jumping on the bandwagon. How the times have changed.