The internet lashes back at Blizzard for banning Hearthstone pro blitzchung
To make things worse, not everyone at Blizzard was on board with the ban.
You've probably caught wind of the whole "Blizzard bans blitzchung" fiasco that's making its rounds online. But just in case you haven't, here's a brief recap before we jump straight to the latest developments.
It all started a few days back, when Hearthstone pro player Ng "blitzchung" Wai Chung won an important match in the ongoing Hearthstone Grandmasters tournament. He had acceded to a short post-game online interview with two Taiwanese hosts, as was the norm, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.
However, things got touchy when Ng, a Hong Kong native, openly voiced his support for the pro-democracy movement in the country, going so far as to don a face mask characteristic of the ongoing protests and uttering the slogan "Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our age!". Face masks were recently banned by the Hong Kong government in an attempt to keep the angry protesters off the streets, so it's possible Ng was using it as a way of showing defiance.
Unfortunately, this did not go down well with Blizzard.
In response to Ng's comments, the American video game developer removed him from the tournament and banned him from taking part in any further Hearthstone competitions for a year. This also means that he will lose any winnings earned during Grandmasters Season 2. According to Blizzard, this was a breach of competition rules, which prohibits players from doing anything that "offends a portion or group of the public" or "damages Blizzard's image".
In addition to banning blitzchung, Blizzard also terminated its contract with the two casters who interviewed him, a seemingly heavy-handed move. The duo hid under the table as he expressed support, but one Twitter user claimed that they had egged blitzchung on and encouraged him to make the statement.
Unsurprisingly, many people saw this as Blizzard pandering to China. The company itself is now facing a massive backlash from huge swathes of the internet, and even US lawmakers.
Many Hearthstone players and fans were appalled by the developer's actions against Ng. In their eyes, Blizzard, which is partly owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent, was seen to be putting profits ahead of their morals by giving in to the Chinese market. Separately, Tencent also has stakes in other video game companies like Ubisoft, Epic, and Riot Games.
Blizzard is reportedly wracked by internal dissent too. A tweet by former employee Kevin Hovdestad noted that some of the folks at Blizzard aren't onboard with the company's actions either and have covered up some of the plaques on campus that detail the company's core values of "Think Globally" and "Every Voice Matters" in a protest of their own.
Their troubles didn't end there. The internet wasn't the only one who responded once the fiasco really got heated. US Senators Marco Rubio and Ron Wyden also stepped forward to condemn Blizzard's actions on Tuesday. The latter spelled it out brutally in his tweet, stating that "No American company should censor calls for freedom to make a quick buck."
Of course, other developers had their say as well. Online card game Gods Unchained also spoke out against Blizzard, stating that "No player should be punished for their beliefs" and accusing them of caring more about money than freedom. They offered blitzchung a spot in their US$500,000 tournament as well as full remuneration of his lost winnings from the Hearthstone Grandmasters.
From a bystander's perspective, this is undoubtedly the biggest blow-up we've ever seen regarding politics in esports, and it seems Blizzard's higher management will have to tread carefully from here on out.
That said, the company isn't the only one struggling to find a balance between its financial stake in China and the need to stand behind free expression. Chinese state TV cancelled broadcasts of NBA preseason games after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of the Hong Kong protest movement, which resulted in Morey deleting his tweet and both him and the NBA scrambling to apologise.
Images: Hearthstone
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