What happens to Blizzard and why do players call for a boycott of their games?

The situation with Blizzard escalated last weekend over a political issue, and the consequences are likely to be felt for some time to come.

You may have heard these days that the internet is angry with Blizzard. Initially, I did not intend to write about it, considering it to be more of a geopolitical issue than a matter related to the video game world. I prefer to write about cats vomiting on computers. However, the situation with Blizzard escalated during the week, so I told our Chinese investors, "We will be suspicious of people if we don't write anything."

So the story goes like this:

Last Sunday, October 6 in Taiwan, the Asian Grandmasters Tournament was held at Blizzard's Hearthstone Card Game. Tournament participant Chung Ng Wai of Hong Kong shouted "Let's free Hong Kong" in an interview after the match, and as the whole thing went live, a slight inconvenience arose before the transmission was completely eliminated.

Certainly, Chung Ng Wai referred to the struggle of Hong Kong residents against the Chinese authorities, given that the city has a different legislative system from the rest of China (eg they have the right to protest, freedom of the media and free speech), but more recently the Chinese authorities they are increasingly interfering with their legislation and trying to stifle democracy.

As the organizer of the esports competition, Blizzard decided to punish the said player for his statement, which has a political connotation. He was stripped of the prize money he had won all season and suspended him from competing in Heartstone tournaments for a full year. In addition, they canceled their collaboration with commentators interviewing the player.

The reaction of the community, not only Hearthstone players but all other Blizzard games, was generally blameworthy for Blizzard. In the eyes of the public, the situation seemed very simple - Blizzard is making huge money in China and Chinese megacorporation Tencent has a stake in their company, which automatically looked like they were siding with the capital.

An official statement from Blizzard was met with:

"Although we are in the position that everyone has the right to express their thoughts and views, players and other participants who knowingly participate in our esports competitions must comply with the official rules of those competitions."

That part is probably clear to everyone, it is only questionable whether a player should be punished with such a drastic penalty. In any case, it seems that Blizzard employees themselves are not happy about these developments. The night before, Blizzard headquarters were covered with inscriptions that make up the company's slogans: "Think globally" and "Every voice matters." The company also brought together about twenty people carrying umbrellas, a symbol of the Hong Kong protest.

Players also largely express their dissatisfaction with Blizzard's move and believe the company is chasing the messages and values ​​it seeks to promote in its games. Because of this, many community members are announcing a boycott of Blizzard games. It puts the company in a very awkward position because in recent years with the fans they can not go on the green branch. Last year they had an embarrassingly disappointing BlizzCon convention where they announced a Diablo mobile game that no one was looking for, after which their stock value dropped significantly.


BlizzCon returns this month for the eleventh month and as things stand, the company will be under a magnifying glass. Unless they delay the convention, which is just as easily possible.