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(Polygon) BlizzCon 2019: Blizzard apologizes for its response to Hong Kong protests

signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,183

Blizzard has spoken twice about its decision to suspend Hong Kong Hearthstone player Ng "blitzchung" Wai Chung — first, when it suspended the player, and later, when it shortened his punishment. Now, the developer has addressed ongoing criticism its faced since then during the BlizzCon 2019 opening ceremony in Anaheim, California.

Blizzard president J. Allen Brack appeared at the event to talk about the ongoing controversy. "We moved too quickly in our decision and then to make matters worse, we were too slow to talk with all of you," Brack said. "We didn't live up to the high standards we set for ourselves. We failed in our purpose.
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He continued:

I am sorry and I accept accountability. What exactly is our purpose? BlizzCon is demonstrating it as we speak. We aspire to bring the world together in epic entertainment. I truly believe in the positive power of video games

When we get it right, we create a common ground where the community comes together to compete, connect, and play, irrespective of the things that divide us. BlizzCon has people from 59 countries all around the world at the show today. That is amazing. That is the positive power of video games — to transcend divisions around us. We will do better going forward. But our actions are going to matter more than any of these words. As you walk around this weekend, I hope it's clear how committed we are to people expressing themselves.
We've seen many of you expressing yourselves this morning.

Today you're going to see a lot of the hard work of the Blizzard team. I am personally so proud of what we are building and I hope you love it too. Thank you for joining us.
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Forgiven kings? Maybe worth noting that neither Hong Kong nor China was explicitly mentioned.
 

Deleted member 5491

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
5,249
What did they apologize for, if they can't say it?
What actions did they take?

Otherwise this is was an empty one
 
Imran

Imran

Member
Oct 24, 2017
6,559
The best apologies have no promises of action, no mentions of what the actual problems were, and no repairing of the original issues.

But Diablo!
 
NotLiquid

NotLiquid

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 25, 2017
34,748
It's a start and I'm impressed he went so far as to say he takes full accountability but I'm gonna need to see more of that actual "action" moving onward. Unbanning the casters and the player would be a start but not mentioning the incidents by name doesn't instill too much confidence.
 
Laser Ramon

Laser Ramon

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,629
He apologized for reacting too quickly initially and taking too long for talking to fans. That's it.
 
Raijinto

Raijinto

self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
10,091
That wasn't a great apology. Sure they apologised which is great and about time but I was hoping for something a bit more sincere.
 
Quacktion

Quacktion

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,479
Until they take a hard stance against China this is pretty meaningless.
 
Jmille99

Jmille99

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,098
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They're not sorry
 
lucebuce

lucebuce

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,891
Pakistan
It's ok Blizzard, you're making good video games that will release in the next year so all is forgiven!
 
Kyougar

Kyougar

Cute Animal Whisperer
Member
Nov 3, 2017
9,354
They apologized for the message around it, not the decision.

Meaningless.
 
lexony

lexony

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,518
Well, this was not really an apology. More a lame Marketing move by saying that games connect people.
 
Shoot

Shoot

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,531
Blitzchung is still suspended and has not received an apology. This is worthless.
 

KoolAid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,676
It's still better than no apology which is what I was expecting but it's still a weak one. Will have to wait to see if they mention any future action later on the weekend.
 
MegaXZero

MegaXZero

One Winged Slayer
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Jun 21, 2018
5,079
I can't watch the video but the transcript provided makes the apology fucking useless. Reading it without following all this would leave you confused what actually occurred: Blizzard took a stand against human rights and decided to defend the honor of China and its ability to crush Hong Kong.
 
TeamLeftMatch

TeamLeftMatch

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,683
Oh cool you said sorry, now did you reverse the ban on both blitzchung and the commentators?
No. Well what a hollow and stupid apology and watch as people will eat this up as them learning

"We're very sorry for what we did but we'll continue not to fix that. Hope you can forgive up now enjoy overwatch 2 and Diablo 4!"
 
Booya_base

Booya_base

Member
Oct 31, 2017
747
Jersey
Its like they sat down in a meeting and workshopped - we have to say something to placate fans and stop protests/people from boycotting us, but we CANNOT say anything that'll actually rile China and this is what they came up with.
 
Trickster

Trickster

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,533
Pretty clear by the tone of his voice that he was being sincere. But it is pretty weak to not even mention Hong Kong, or unban Blitzchung
 
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