If you have been paying attention over the last ten years, you will notice that Chinese interests have been buying into US video game developers and publishers more and more. At the same time, interest in the Chinese gaming market has continued to grow though, unsurprisingly, the Chinese Communist Party has curtailed foreign investments by staying in control of everything. So it is no wonder that Blizzard has sided with the Chinese government in the wake of the Honk Kong protests currently going on. And because of its decision, now #BoycottBlizzard is currently trending on Twitter.
More specifically, fueling this backlash is Blizzard’s decision to immediately suspend Hearthstone Grandmaster Chung “Blitzchung“ Ng Wai who made a statement about the Hong Kong protests this past weekend. During a post-match interview on the official Asia-Pacific Hearthstone Grandmasters’ Livestream the 21-year-old player shouted, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age” after removing his gas mask and goggles which were similar to what the Hong Kong protests have been wearing.
In its announcement, Blizzard declared that he had “violated the 2019 Hearthstone Grandmasters Official Competition Rules section 6.1” and that his behavior “does not represent Blizzard or Hearthstone Esports. 6.1 (o).” At that point Blizzard’s post quoted the specific rule which states,
2019 HEARTHSTONE® GRANDMASTERS OFFICIAL COMPETITION RULES v1.4 p.12, Section 6.1 (o)
Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image will result in removal from Grandmasters and reduction of the player’s prize total to $0 USD, in addition to other remedies which may be provided for under the Handbook and Blizzard’s Website Terms.”
It is an exceptionally vague rule that allows Blizzard to consider anything they want to be in violation of whatever they desire. In fact, it is so vague I wouldn’t be surprised if a player could take Blizzard to court over it. But for the Hearthstone Grandmaster, that is not an avenue that will open up for the Hong Kong native. Does he regret what he has done? Certainly not according to what he said in an interview shortly following Blizzard’s decision, “I don’t regret saying that stuff. And even now, I don’t regret it at all.”
But the repercussions didn’t stop with just him. In addition to suspending the Hearthstone player, Blizzard went even further by announcing that the company “will also immediately cease working with both casters.” A rather insane thing for Blizzard to do since the casters, upon Blitzchung’s outburst, had immediately ducked beneath their desks and cut to a commercial break.
To be frank, Blizzard’s actions reak of despotism just like how the Chinese government operates in its cracking down of speech. Yet, this is what has been happening in video games over the past few years. Developers, publishers, and even console makers have to jump through all kinds of hoops in order to sell their products on the Chinese market. It goes so far that game developers have to partner up with a Chinese company to sell their games in China.
So it is no wonder that Blizzard will do everything in its power to refrain from upsetting the Chinese government. That includes Blizzard censoring American citizens for supporting Hong Kong. But do you know how invasive Chinese interests are in Western developers and publishers? Take a look at Tencent. It is a Chinese multinational conglomerate that has stocks in Activision Blizzard (5%), Ubisoft (5%), Epic Games (40%), Grinding Gear Games (80%), Glu Mobile (14%), and completely owns Riot Games just to name some companies. You would be surprised how much influence Chinese interests have in Western games these days and how it negatively affects them. One only has to listen to a number of my podcast episodes for ARK: Survival Evolved, check out episode 88 starting around the 29 minute mark, when Studio Wildcard was picked up by Snail Games USA (an extension of the Chinese developer and publisher Snail Games).
But this isn’t happening just to the video game industry. Hollywood certainly develops movies with the Chinese market in mind and the NBA is in hot water after recent support for the Hong Kong protests were voiced and the NBA decided to apologize for that and cater to the Chinese government. Another recent example, South Park has been removed from the Chinese internet after its “Band in China” episode where the show harshly critiqued Hollywood’s obeisance to China.
However, Blizzard isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. But it can be the start of fighting back against companies that kowtow to Chinese censorship. It starts with you and your willingness to boycott any and all developers who allow themselves to be pushed around by the authoritarian Chinese government which censors free speech.
Sadly, established video game outlets such as IGN, Kotaku, Polygon, PC Gamer, etc. will not speak out harshly on this topic. Sure, they will throw up some puff pieces that might mildly condemn Blizzard. But they will never call for a boycott of Activision Blizzard Inc or any other developer or publisher. Why? Because they try and cater to the whims of those same companies and they have to appeal to the Chinese market as well. It will be up to the small-time websites and content creators who are not afraid to speak out against these entities that will have to spread the news.
And it is up to you to stand up to Blizzard, China, and any developer or publisher that bends the knee to China in the name of Chinese censorship.
Seven years ago I began my boycott of Blizzard because I saw Diablo 3 as the turning point where that once-great developer no longer cared about its fans. Now it is up to you. Don’t give Blizzard, and Activision, your money. Stop buying their games. Stop going to their conventions (Blizzcon is coming up soon). If you live in the EU, you might be able to do more than just stop giving them your money by requesting that Blizzard provide all information about you, according to a post on Reddit (essentially tying up their lawyers and hiking up legal fees). But for the rest of us, just stop supporting them and stop talking about them. Let this be the turning point where the video game developers and publishers realize that there is a boiling point where consumers will stop supporting them.
And that boiling point is censorship.
So if you didn’t want to boycott Blizzard over its DRM practice, surely you will boycott the company in support of the Hong Kong protesters and free speech!
Welcome to #BoycottBlizzard, better late than never!
Click Here to read a follow-up editorial “Let ‘Free Hong Kong’ be the Litmus Test for the Video Game Industry
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I believe Tencent now owns 25% of Activision-Blizzard (they bought a ton more stock in them). Anyway, I’m not surprised by their handling of this situation and I’m surprised that others are. Very few (if any) multi-national corporations are going to take a stand against this, which is the exact same approach as most of our government (well the president flat out sided with China but I’m talking generally about our federally elected officials and not that buffoon). And maybe it is the cynic in me but I also think that any corporation that does come out in support of Hong Kong will only be doing so to garner good will towards their brand and not because they explicitly believe in the fight. There aren’t good corporations.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any information regarding Tencent owning 25% of Activision Blizzard. But yeah, you are right that multi-national corporations won’t take a stand against it.
As for there not being any good corporations, I disagree to a point. There are some, but they are few and far between.