Yeah good fucking luck with BlizzCon just weeks out lol
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Blizzard has removed Hong Kong Hearthstone player blitzchung from Hearthstone Grand Masters and rescinded all his prize money
- Thread starter Lump
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League of Legends World Championships is starting up too. Riot is owned by Tencent and there is a Hong Kong team playing in groups, along with multiple Taiwanese teams. There's a lot of potential for this issue to come up again between now and blizzcon.
It really seems like the commentators have a directive from the top not to say the Hong Kong Altitude's full team name, and instead abbreviate it:
I find it hard to believe that the players and/or fans (it's in Europe this year) won't initiate some kind of incident since the tournament runs for nearly a month. My money is on something happening and Riot handling it very badly.
If I started talking like that at work they would call an ambulance or the cops
Blizzcon is for people still financially and emotionally invested in their games. There might be one or two people confronting them, like the "is this an april fools joke" guy, but I don't think it'll be a shitshow.
Anyone going to BlizzCon bought their tickets before this all happened.
Now, will people who are disgusted by this still attend, or go there to raise some shit, is the question.
If they have any livestreamed QAs at Blizzcon, I find it hard to believe a question won't be asked regarding all of this. They'll likely broadcast with a significant delay
some people think that china's gravy train is gonna crash soon too
Yeah, as long as the pressure is kept up on this side, I think Blizzard will basically have to pull out of China eventually.
The fact that even Blizzard employees are protesting is a big reason why I think that their bridge with China is basically already on fire. Once you get to that stage, internally reconciling a pro-China stance is just going to get harder and harder.
That slip-up is pretty damning. Maybe also on purpose? Either way, he's probably fired.
I can see it. Massive population + automation + climate change.
Activision Blizzard have been doing shady shit in China for a long time.
Fuck man. That thing is sitting in my closet right now...
Why do I get the feeling that if something does happen at Blizzcon this year, some publications/sites will try to frame it as "Entitled gamers" or something like that? Something damn well should happen (The convention made solely to satisfy their own ego being ruined as a result of their own awfulness is just too fitting) but I could just see somewhere like Mashable trying to pull something like that.
THQ had the benefit of no real political climate to focus on them. Blizzard have helped more people acknowledge whats going on in HK and people care a lot about it. No one has good childhood memories of THQ but almost all of us who play on PC have some warm memories of Blizzard. So seeing them do this also plays a factor.
Ruining Blizzcon, upsetting developers, shouting during announcements or asking questions about HK etc.
No I don't think any (non chinese) publication would take that stance.
Any nonChinese news agency that takes that kind of stance after this backlash would be extremely foolish on their part. Who would listen to them any more if they are labeled a mouth piece for China?
Also don't forget, their next Diablo game, Diablo Immortals is being developed by NetEase too. China has a tight grip on Blizzard and there's no way Blizzard will not bow down to their demands. China loves their censoring.
Money talks and Acti-Blizzard will not let any amount of money slip by. Shame
I hope Blizzcon is a disaster for them.
Money talks and Acti-Blizzard will not let any amount of money slip by. Shame
I hope Blizzcon is a disaster for them.
I mean, riot is entirely owned by Tencent right? like. Unlike Blizz, they're fucked from the ground up when it comes to this 'issue' - there's sadly no way they handle it appropriately in any form.
The "live" public Blizzcon stream is going to be so censored, it'll probably come to attentants broadcasting what's actually happening.
I fully expect them to delay the stream to China by long enough to prevent any outbursts, but I can't imagine they can feasibly get through the weekend without pooh shirts or HK shirts being on stream at minimum. Shit, Disneyland is a BLOCK away, there will actually be pooh shirts to buy literally within walking distance of a coffee.
Maybe, I just fear we'll see the old "It's been x amount of time, move on!" or publications to preoccupied with the hype train to realise the implications of what their writing happening by then.
When you have Marco Rubio speaking out, I highly doubt any gaming journalist want to be drawn into some political skirmish this election cycle
I think it's fair to say Activision are guilty by association on this one, so I won't be buying Modern Warfare.
THQ also made a dog on camera apology and didn't have 8chan excused by toxic gamer stereotypes.
As much as ActiBlizz or Bobby Kotick and shareholders would love to just let this burn out over time because the Chinese market means just that much financially, the employee unrest is probably going to become an issue for them. I imagine there are many unhappy devs at Blizzard who not only don't share these awful views but are even less happy to be associated and directly or indirectly blamed for it. We can be just about certain that hardly a single soul there is looking forward to Blizzcon right now. IIRC Kotaku reported about misgivings prior in regards to the Activision side creeping in more and more.
Having the Chinese market is going to do ActiBlizz very little good if (big IF, I know) developers start leaving the company over this. There's going to be a limit to how far ActiBlizz can take this support of the CCP.
Having the Chinese market is going to do ActiBlizz very little good if (big IF, I know) developers start leaving the company over this. There's going to be a limit to how far ActiBlizz can take this support of the CCP.
This is genuinely the first time I can remember a political issue in a very, very long time where everyone on all sides of the spectrum are united in condemning the people responsible. So I don't think that's an issue.
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Also don't if this was posted yet but the Blizzard subreddit is back up and have a post from the mods about what happened: https://www.reddit.com/r/Blizzard/comments/dfbhr3/mod_megathread_about_what_happened_whats/
I really don't think this one will be forgotten. Folks were already unhappy with Blizzard, and this is an issue folks are worried about in general. I have a feeling this might end up being the biggest gaming controversy in the past 5 years.
I'm hoping attendees troll the convention and turn it into a Winnie the Pooh con.
Heads up, talking about Hong Kong is censored/banned in Thijs' twitch chat you also get the following message if you try:
Unsubbing right now, super super disappointing.
Unsubbing right now, super super disappointing.
As a Hong Konger, I would like to sincerely thank everyone for supporting us.
We have been suppressed and marginalized by the PRC for years, only recently we had it so bad that we have to fight against them or face similar fate as Xinjiang.
You will not believe the police brutality we witness every single day and how dead bodies are deemed "suicide" without any investigation.
We have been suppressed and marginalized by the PRC for years, only recently we had it so bad that we have to fight against them or face similar fate as Xinjiang.
You will not believe the police brutality we witness every single day and how dead bodies are deemed "suicide" without any investigation.
Fuck Thijs then.
I have unsubbed my wow subscription and I will not review any more Blizzard products let alone play them at all as long as Blizzard keep this stance.
As someone living in a country built upon democracy, free speech, and a fair and relatively transparent judicial system, I can only imagine the uncertainty, frustration, danger, and fear you all are experiencing over there. We have the very same pro-China mainlanders actively using the right to protest in my country (ironic) to shout down anyone daring to criticise China and daring to support Taiwan, Tibet, and Hong Kong. It's infuriating but since we respect free speech here in Australia, we let it go.
Imagine if the CCP had gotten their way and could extradite anyone in Hong Kong without oversight or avenues of appeal - a free pass to seize enemies of the state off the street. But thanks to everyone who tirelessly SPOKE OUT, fought and bled on the streets, this injustice was not allowed to pass.
I hope there will be positive outcomes for you all in Hong Kong but given the PRC's terrible history and practices, it's a very very slim chance 😟 I'm goddamn disappointed that the Hong Kong police would actively support CCP directives instead of siding with the people.
One of the few things we can do here is not turn a blind eye to your plight, and not remain SILENT. And not sell out as Activision and Blizzard have done. Companies like Activision and Blizzard should be despised and shamed and hounded for condoning a murderous regime that routinely and systematically commits horrific crimes at a staggering scale (harvesting organs, forced marriages, rape, murder), and actively (through 'soft' and 'hard' power) spreads oppression arround the world.
All the best mate, you and everyone else in Hong Kong (and Xinjiang, Taiwan, Tibet) are always in my thoughts. Stay safe.
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The horrible truth about this is, we can't even win. I'm pretty sure the majority of WoW's subs for example still come from China, and China (the country / government) can and will shut you down on a whim. You cant launch a online game in China without going through their companies (Blizzard doesnt run WoW in China, Netease does, or Valve doesnt run Dota in China, Perfect World does, etc).
So we can't win because the loss of a few hundred or even thousands of western players angry about the situation (and let's be real, a lot of the outrage is just bravado and many will probably just be back in a month or whatever, its just how these things are) is NOTHING compared to China actually killing WoW in China if they chose to. You literally can't win against China's money.
Welcome to 2019.
So we can't win because the loss of a few hundred or even thousands of western players angry about the situation (and let's be real, a lot of the outrage is just bravado and many will probably just be back in a month or whatever, its just how these things are) is NOTHING compared to China actually killing WoW in China if they chose to. You literally can't win against China's money.
Welcome to 2019.
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