If you want to go to BlizzCon, you should have a smartphone. Otherwise, you won’t be able to show a ticket. However, the ticket app has already gained a bad reputation…
Around BlizzCon, another small scandal has spread on social media in recent days. Anyone who wants to attend BlizzCon 2019 must use an app on their smartphone. Quickly, rumors circulated that the app is just “spyware in disguise.” Fans are concerned about their data.
What happened? Blizzard announced how BlizzCon 2019 will take place. Anyone purchasing a ticket and wanting to attend in person must install the AXS mobile app on their smartphone. The app then generates a QR code that is scanned at the entrance.
Why is Blizzard using the app? The app creates a new QR code for each ticket at changing intervals. This is intended to combat the illegal resale of tickets and potential forgery. Since the code changes regularly, forgery is practically impossible, and only the smartphone owner can gain access to the event.
What bothers users? A few users did some research and found out that the AXS app accesses a lot of information from the smartphone. It can read the entire contact data, including names, phone numbers, and more, in addition to location information. All this data could then be shared unencrypted with third parties.
This concerns users who are afraid for their data and do not want it to be used by other companies. Those who just want to go to BlizzCon, as they say, shouldn’t have to share all their data with countless companies around the world.
By the way: Similar concerns about an app have been raised for other games like ESO and Dead by Daylight.
The accusations from some concerned users on Reddit even border on the absurd. It is also often claimed that the app has permission to share customers’ credit card numbers, including the security number, with others.
A few fans want to calm things down: However, there are also some people who defend AXS and explain that the app’s terms of use meet current standards. Anyone who uses any social network would already have “bigger problems” than those the AXS app could ever create.
Whether the app is really as terrible as some users claim or if people are finally reading the terms and conditions of such applications for the first time is probably hard to say.
Getting to BlizzCon without the app: By the way, Blizzard mentioned in the same post that BlizzCon visitors could also attend the event without the app in case “your smartphone is broken” or “for some reason you cannot access the app.” Then one would have to go to a specific service point on-site to receive assistance.
At least one good thing has definitely come from the app. The question “Do you guys not have phones?” can probably be avoided at BlizzCon 2019.
What is your opinion on this situation? Is it completely normal for Blizzard to switch to a digital ticket system? Should Blizzard have created their own app for this? Or are the fans overreacting?
