Blizzard values: Every Voice Matters (unless you say something that China doesn’t like and you cut into potential profits)

Blizzard isn’t having the best of times right now as the company is facing backlash following the company removed Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai from the Hearthstone Grandmasters, banned him from competitive play for one year, and rescinded all his prize winnings.

The removal comes after Blitzchung spoke out in support of the protests happening in Hong Kong. Blitzchung made the statements before going on to win the Grandmasters match he was scheduled for. In a post-match interview, he donned a face mask and goggles, the look now tied to the protests, to say “liberation of Hong Kong”.

This one sentence led to the action against him by Blizzard/Activision. The entire broadcast has was deleted and scrubbed from the internet with Blizzard going as far as firing the two broadcasters in the footage for simply being there. In a statement Blizzard noted that:

“Upon further review we have found the action has violated the 2019 Hearthstone Grandmasters Official Competition Rules section 6.1 (o) and is individual behaviour which does not represent Blizzard or Hearthstone esports. We’d like to re-emphasise tournament and player conduct within the Hearthstone esports community from both players and talent. While we stand by one’s right to express individual thoughts and opinions, players and other participants that elect to participate in our esports competitions must abide by the official competition rules.”

But it seems the backlash is not only relegated to fans of the games that Blizzard creates, but also to those working at the company itself. Blizzard prides itself on a core set of values enough to place them on a large statue outside their facility where they read: “Every Voice Matters” and “Think Globally”.

It seems an unnamed employee covered up those sayings as noted by a post on Twitter. Mark Kern, former team lead and the developer behind World of Warcraft Classic publicly came out against Blizzard using the now popular hashtag #BoycottBlizzard

This hurts. But until Blizzard reverses their decision on @blitzchungHS I am giving up playing Classic WoW, which I helped make and helped convince Blizzard to relaunch. There will be no Mark of Kern guild after all.

Let me explain why I am #BoycottBlizzard

— Mark Kern (@Grummz) October 9, 2019

Public outrage of Blizzard’s actions hasn’t seemed to die down with people getting the hashtag trending on Twitter in opposition to the company silencing voices in its community. Many feel that Blizzard/Activision is pandering to China as the company isn’t shy about banning anything. Hell, they banned Winnie the Pooh because citizens compared the character to their leader.

It seems money trumps values any day of the week, and we know Blizzard/Activision head Bobby Kotick needs the extra cash as his $28,698,375 a year salary just isn’t cutting it. Guys got to feed his family after all.

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J. Luis

J. Luis is the current Editor-In-Chief here at GAMbIT. With a background in investigative journalism his work encompasses the pop-culture spectrum here, but he also works in the political spectrum for other organizations.

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