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Blizzard bans pro Hearthstone player a year for his support of Hong Kong protesters

mcz117chief

mcz117chief

Member
When I get home today I'll uninstall all Blizzard games, cancel my pre-order of Warcraft 3 re-forged. Every little bit helps. I don't want to virtue signal, I just want to say that I am willing to take a hit rather than silently support this company. A shame, I was really looking forward to W3.

edit: I did it.
 
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Katsura

Katsura

Member
AV said:
"Customer outrage" applies only to anyone that was already buying Blizzard products and now won't, specifically because of this. As this forum (rightly so) spends most days pointing out, this kind of outrage usually comes from people that don't actually buy the products. I'd wager that group of people is less than every Blizzard product owner living in China.
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For now. It's a fickle market and who knows when they will draw the ire of the chinese government and get banned. Also, the vast majority of chinese gaming takes place on mobile and that's not a stable demographic by any means. That's why i wrote that this smells like an investor driven decision that will ultimately backfire. Keep in mind their money printing machine, WoW, is starting to break down and OW can't compete with the likes of Fortnite and PUBG. They're in dire need of a great game, not more bad publicity
 
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SirKicksalot

SirKicksalot

Member
Social media in the West and China over the last 48 hours literally turned into this:


OJKjDbm.jpg


The 9/11 support messages are hilariously vicious.
The timing of this, 3 weeks before Blizzcon, is perfect...
 
H

Horsemama1956

Member
AV said:
"Customer outrage" applies only to anyone that was already buying Blizzard products and now won't, specifically because of this. As this forum (rightly so) spends most days pointing out, this kind of outrage usually comes from people that don't actually buy the products. I'd wager that group of people is less than every Blizzard product owner living in China.
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All it will take is a few popular streamers/YouTubers bringing it up. It's possible in the near future these companies are going to have to choose China or the west.

Younger people don't seem to have unbreakable allegiance to corporations.
 
AV

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Katsura said:
For now. It's a fickle market and who nows when they will draw the ire of the chinese government and being banned. Also, the vast majority of chinese gaming takes place on mobile and that's not a stable demographic by any means. That's why i wrote that this smells like an investor driven decision that will ultimately backfire. Keep in mind their money printing machine, WoW, is starting to break down and OW can't compete with the likes of Fortnite and PUBG. They're in dire need of a great game, not more bad publicity
Click to expand...

WoW has been "starting to break down" for 9 years at this point, and Classic just gave it the biggest subscriber boost it's ever seen. And no, it's not a fad, it's been out for 6 weeks and the servers are still rammed beyond expectation. They've also got Diablo mobile on the way, which, while we may all laugh, will print money, alongside Call of Duty as usual.

Horsemama1956 said:
All it will take is a few popular streamers/YouTubers bringing it up. It's possible in the near future these companies are going to have to choose China or the west.

Younger people don't seem to have unbreakable allegiance to corporations.
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Generic streamers can, sure, but the people making their living playing Blizzard games (which is who Blizzard game fans will presumably mostly be watching) aren't about to cut off their livelihood for the sake of looking moral.

Once again, while I do not morally condone what they've done here, people are going to forget about it in a week like they forget about everything else (remember Mulan? lol) and Blizzard are going to be absolutely fine.
 
Mistake

Mistake

Member
The whole thing is dumb as hell. I don’t think he was necessarily banned for his opinion, but more like bringing in problems don’t have to do with the game itself. Personally, I try to keep politics out of gaming, because it’s something I’m meant to enjoy, and can also bridge gaps that political views might keep apart.

Them taking his prize money and this being based in Taiwan is a bitch move though, and says more on their part
 
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bigedole

bigedole

Member
I'm definitely upset about this as an initial reaction, but I couldn't help but consider my displeasure to the whole Kapernick and anthem-kneeling shit that was going on in the NFL a couple years ago. Like, do we want our entertainment personalities making political statements or not? I honestly don't know. The most truthful answer is probably that I don't care if they do as long as I agree with them, which obviously isn't a good answer. The sad fact is that this dude was representing Blizzard in this situation, and the only options we have to express our angst with Activision's level of corporatism is to boycott their goods, but it's not like this should come as a surprise to anyone.

Activision and Blizzard have been on this path for a good while now, and they will probably continue to rake in money due to their relationship with their chinese overlords.
 
shoegaze

shoegaze

Member
Katsura said:
They should have simply ignored it and adopted a wait and see attitude, at the very least. I also disagree this would be actively pissing off China since it's not Blizz making the offensive statement
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You talk like you have experience at this level of decision making, while I'm sure you had regrets buying that $100 vibrating anal massager last week.

Katsura said:
Right and customer outrage is also something that would obviously happen and rightfully so. Time will tell if Blizz desperate moves to compete in China will make up for all the lost goodwill in the west. Personally i think it's a very short sighted, investor driven, strategy that will ultimately lead to their downfall
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Tell the world, scream from the rooftops, gather a Twitter mob, make a placard. The downfall is coming, the West moral adjudicators will rise once more and the investor driven short term strategy will fall under immense pressure of the customer outrage.

Katsura said:
For now. It's a fickle market and who knows when they will draw the ire of the chinese government and get banned. Also, the vast majority of chinese gaming takes place on mobile and that's not a stable demographic by any means. That's why i wrote that this smells like an investor driven decision that will ultimately backfire. Keep in mind their money printing machine, WoW, is starting to break down and OW can't compete with the likes of Fortnite and PUBG. They're in dire need of a great game, not more bad publicity
Click to expand...
>the digital code is weary, the letters are falling off, the textures are disintegrating, the game is just starting to break down
>avoiding bad publicity is directly correlated with helping them make a great game, the more good publicity there is, the more optimised our code, the better our art

You sure you know what you're talking about, or just have a flair for the drama?
 
L

LazyParrot

Member
Gashtronomy said:
A grandmaster interview, while you represent a game and a company, is not the place to spout your personal political viewpoints.

This is the wrong place and the wrong time.
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Somehow I doubt things would have been any different if he had voiced his support outside the event, say using his own personal Twitter account or something. The China defense brigade would have found the tweet and they would have pestered Blizzard until they banned the guy.
 
S

Slings and Arrows

Banned
LazyParrot said:
Somehow I doubt things would have been any different if he had voiced his support outside the event, say using his own personal Twitter account or something. The China defense brigade would have found the tweet and they would have pestered Blizzard until they banned the guy.
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Possibly. That idea is built on speculation though. And, at worst his twitter would have been banned, at best he would still have a job.
 
L

LazyParrot

Member
Gashtronomy said:
Possibly. That idea is built on speculation though. And, at worst his twitter would have been banned, at best he would still have a job.
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I wouldn't really say it's speculation. The rule Blizzard claims was violated isn't worded in a way that suggests it only covers what players say or do during an event. Offend the wrong "portion or group of the public" (i.e. China in this case) and you're fucked, no matter how or where you do it.
 
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Katsura

Katsura

Member
AV said:
WoW has been "starting to break down" for 9 years at this point, and Classic just gave it the biggest subscriber boost it's ever seen. And no, it's not a fad, it's been out for 6 weeks and the servers are still rammed beyond expectation. They've also got Diablo mobile on the way, which, while we may all laugh, will print money, alongside Call of Duty as usual.



Generic streamers can, sure, but the people making their living playing Blizzard games (which is who Blizzard game fans will presumably mostly be watching) aren't about to cut off their livelihood for the sake of looking moral.

Once again, while I do not morally condone what they've done here, people are going to forget about it in a week like they forget about everything else (remember Mulan? lol) and Blizzard are going to be absolutely fine.
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You're kidding right? It's been going downhill since the Wrath days and the chinese players do not pay a monthly sub like we do in the west. It's nowhere near the infinite source of money that it once was. Also, 6 weeks does not prove it's a sustainable rise. Every new expansion also saw a rise in subs but yet the overall numbers have been steadily declining
 
Katsura

Katsura

Member
shoegaze said:
You talk like you have experience at this level of decision making, while I'm sure you had regrets buying that $100 vibrating anal massager last week.



Tell the world, scream from the rooftops, gather a Twitter mob, make a placard. The downfall is coming, the West moral adjudicators will rise once more and the investor driven short term strategy will fall under immense pressure of the customer outrage.


>the digital code is weary, the letters are falling off, the textures are disintegrating, the game is just starting to break down
>avoiding bad publicity is directly correlated with helping them make a great game, the more good publicity there is, the more optimised our code, the better our art

You sure you know what you're talking about, or just have a flair for the drama?
Click to expand...
2edgy4u
 
AV

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Katsura said:
You're kidding right? It's been going downhill since the Wrath days and the chinese players do not pay a monthly sub like we do in the west. It's nowhere near the infinite source of money that it once was. Also, 6 weeks does not prove it's a sustainable rise. Every new expansion also saw a rise in subs but yet the overall numbers have been steadily declining
Click to expand...

It's actually been going downhill since Cata, that's what I said, about 9 years. Of course it's not as popular as it was 9 years ago. But I'd wager Classic's made it more popular than it was during some of the previous expansions.

And at what point does Classic become a sustainable rise in your eyes? 12 weeks? A year? 2 years? You must have a figure in mind. Classic is a massive success even after all the tourists have left, and all Blizzard need to do now is roll out the phases and then release TBC Classic.
 
Katsura

Katsura

Member
AV said:
It's actually been going downhill since Cata, that's what I said, about 9 years. Of course it's not as popular as it was 9 years ago. But I'd wager Classic's made it more popular than it was during some of the previous expansions.

And at what point does Classic become a sustainable rise in your eyes? 12 weeks? A year? 2 years? You must have a figure in mind. Classic is a massive success even after all the tourists have left, and all Blizzard need to do now is roll out the phases and then release TBC Classic.
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I'd say the time that it would normally take them to release the next expansion. At any rate, 6 weeks is nothing in terms of an mmo. It took most people a lot longer to realise Cata and MoP were shit. At any rate, time will tell if catering to China at the expense of long time fans is a good long term strategy. I doubt it
 
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FCKAFD

FCKAFD

Member
Virex said:
China has infiltrated all aspects of the western world. That's why so many game companies are censoring and banning so many things. Because the Chinese want them to. I bet Sony's whole censorship bullshit is all because they want to sell more games in China and want to please the cunt communists. You see the influence of China on campuses etc. corporations etc. in the west. China has been at it for a long long time. Fuck China and fuck all communists
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fuck nazis
 
D

Dane

Member
The story i've heard is that Blizzard is cucking around for Chinese since WoW after its first expansion pack, they decided to change stuff to get approved by the chinese censors and that Mist of Pandaria was something made to applease them and their market, and after that expansion it only got worse for the free world players.

Also, considering that WoW has lost lots of players over the last years, China is their main market nowadays. Wouldn't be surprised that they only decided to finally make WoW Classic to attract/retain the western players.
 
Silvawuff

Silvawuff

Member
That's some scary shit. I am curious if this would have been the same response had he made some other politically-charged statement.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
What's more damning is that they fired the casters as well, who would have had no knowledge the player would say it.

Blizzard has also fired both of the Hearthstone casters working the event, both of whom literally ducked underneath the desk during the interview and neither of which to my knowledge had any idea what was going to be said
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Fuck ZombieBlizzard. Well it's not like you make good games anymore anyway.
 
Aranea

Aranea

Member
Once again big companies showing they are not on the consumer side. Blizzard really wants to keep those dollar from the China market and screw everyone that talks bad about them.
 
ZeroGravity

ZeroGravity

Member
Gashtronomy said:
Possibly. That idea is built on speculation though. And, at worst his twitter would have been banned, at best he would still have a job.
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The NBA just had the broadcast of all its preseason games in China cancelled because they defended one of their GM's right to criticize China. Which he did on Twitter.

China don't care what platform you use, they want to censor all dissent regardless of where it comes from.
 
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