There was trouble over a post that appeared on an Asian social network regarding Hearthstone . A Blizzard account stated that they wanted to protect the pride of China. Now, Blizzard clarifies on the sidelines of BlizzCon 2019 who authored this post in the course of the “Hong Kong” affair.
This is the background: On October 6, a Hearthstone grandmaster made a political statement during a Blizzard stream, calling for “freedom for Hong Kong, the revolution of our era.”
Blizzard banned the grandmaster for a year, removed him from the grandmaster program, and revoked his prize money for the ongoing season. Additionally, Blizzard ended their collaboration with the two casters who were present during the incident but did not intervene. They would never work with them again.
The ban on the grandmaster was so harsh that the punishment nearly ended his career as an eSports player in Hearthstone. This caused a lot of outrage in the following days: Even Blizzard employees protested.
Blizzard “apologizes” in the West
This was Blizzard’s reaction in the West: In response to this ban and the protests, Blizzard issued a statement on the official Blizzard website.
The head of Blizzard, J. Allen Brack, emphasized the global values of Blizzard and justified the ban.
However, he was conciliatory. They acted too quickly and made mistakes.
The Blizzard head conceded: The punishment for the Hearthstone grandmaster was reduced. He was given the opportunity to play Hearthstone professionally again after 6 months. The punishment for the casters was lowered from “We will no longer work with them” to “6 months suspension.”
Blizzard “defends” China’s pride in the East
This is what happened in China: However, a post appeared on “Weibo” in China. It is one of the largest Chinese social networks. This was also an official posting by Blizzard, but with a different tone.
Here it stated that they were angry and disappointed about the incidents at the event. They would always respect and defend the pride of the country, meaning China.
This is how the post was received: Here in the West, a translation of the post was poorly received (via reddit).
Because it sounded like Blizzard was sending two messages to two different countries.
With Blizzard’s values of “Think globally”, such a national perspective was not compatible. This was also criticized by Cortyn on MeinMMO.
This is what Blizzard says now: In a conversation with PCGamer , Blizzard’s head, J. Allen Brack, now clarifies:
- Blizzard cannot publish games in China; they need the Chinese partner NetEase – that is law.
- NetEase is not a government agency but a company and a publisher.
- Blizzard is legally not allowed to use the channels of “Blizzard Weibo” – they are not allowed to “contribute anything” here.
- Ultimately, it is NetEase’s decision what is posted there. They are the publisher in China.
- The statement “they defend the pride of China” was not authorized or approved by Blizzard. They would not have approved it even if they had been asked.
Brack makes it clear: Blizzard had nothing to do with this specific post. They were not asked for permission.
“Acted too quickly” – our mistake
This is now the situation: Brack, however, takes part of the responsibility. NetEase was in contact regarding various issues related to this incident.
The decision for the ban was ultimately made by Blizzard Taiwan, Hearthstone management, the eSports team, and NetEase.
They acted too quickly here. That was the mistake when the groups came together and decided very quickly how to react.
This mistake was already acknowledged by Brack at the opening of BlizzCon.
However, despite the apology, Blizzard will not lift the ban against the two casters. It was their job to ensure that a Blizzard broadcast stayed on topic.
They have already reduced the punishment against the casters from “We will never work with them again” to a “6-month suspension.” Blizzard will apparently not go any lower.
Brack emphasizes that the ban was not about the content of Blitzchung’s political comment, but purely about the fact that he did not talk about the game, in this case, Hearthstone.
They believe in freedom of expression – but the official broadcasts should only revolve around the games.
