Blitzchung and two casters from Taiwan have been removed from the Hearthstone Grandmasters program.
On Sunday, Blitzchung made a comment on the Asia-Pacific Grandmaster's stream in a post-match interview, while in a mask, stating "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age". Blizzard Taiwan removed the VOD containing the interview and it, rightfully so, caused a bit of a stir on reddit. Blizzard has now put up an official blog post on the matter, stating Blitzchung will receive no prize money and be banned for 1 year from the tournament series.
This is certainly troubling that a single country, China, can have this much of an effect on Hearthstone when they quite clearly violate basic human rights. Blizzard has a deep relationship with China with NetEase running all their games for the Chinese locale, and one thing they do in response to that relationship is refer to Taiwan as "Chinese Taipei", a move we don't copy here instead refering to the country as it should be, Taiwan. I've never been one that agrees with the mix of gaming and politics, but here we are.
Tencent, one of China's largest gaming companies, purchased a 5.023% share of Activision-Blizzard back in June of 2016. Tencent also owns 100% of Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends, 48.4% of Epic Games, and an unknown amount of Discord. Additional ownership information was recently covered on PCGamer.
In support of Blitzchung, many on reddit have stated they had their Battle.net accounts closed, are going to instead go to the F2P model, or will no longer be playing the game.
What are your thoughts on this?
Quote From Blizzard During the Asia-Pacific Grandmasters broadcast over the weekend there was a competition rule violation during a post-match interview, involving Blitzchung and two casters, which resulted in the removal of the match VOD replay.
Upon further review we have found the action has violated the 2019 Hearthstone Grandmasters Official Competition Rules section 6.1 (o) and is individual behavior which does not represent Blizzard or Hearthstone Esports. 6.1 (o) is found below.
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.
Grandmasters is the highest tier of Hearthstone Esports and we take tournament rule violations very seriously. After an investigation, we are taking the necessary actions to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
Effective immediately, Blitzchung is removed from Grandmasters and will receive no prizing for Grandmasters Season 2. Additionally, Blitzchung is ineligible to participate in Hearthstone esports for 12 months beginning from Oct. 5th, 2019 and extending to Oct. 5th, 2020. We will also immediately cease working with both casters.
We’d like to re-emphasize tournament and player conduct within the Hearthstone esports community from both players and talent. While we stand by one’s right to express individual thoughts and opinions, players and other participants that elect to participate in our esports competitions must abide by the official competition rules.
Comments
almost like companies just pander to whoever gives them money
Oh my gods, we get it. You disagree. Go give Blizzard your money and let the rest of us tell them to fuck right off.
No, we won't topple China. No, we won't stop all the injustices being carried out by them.
We will however stop abetting a company that had openly chosen profits over human fucking rights. So simmer down, run along and let people have an opinion. If you don't like it, I daresay that is YOUR problem
Absolute cowards. Disgusted with Blizzard. I buy almost every bundle, I pre-order expansions, & buy the adventures but unless they reverse course, I'm done spending money with them.
The punishment feels so heavy-handed. Maybe a verbal warning should've sufficed.
"Now Billy I know you want your human rights but we're trying to make money here. Get in the timeout corner until you learn to feel bad for major corporations"
They go against their morale just because China provides them with money? Disgrace.
hobby activists at their finest.
This has always been apparent. Everyone knows this is going on, but hey make a reddit thread for karma and everyone roleplays as an Avenger.
People only ever perk up when it's convenient. Meanwhile the US is still dealing with the Saudis who chop up journalists, blindly support Israel despite their numerous violation of human rights and ofc nobody ever talks about China despite their growing influence in the world.
It's way too late now anyways, and suddenly "boycotting Blizzard" is going to do fuckall to actually help the situation, but go ahead, pretend like you "did the right thing today" so you don't actually have to bother with the real problems.
Have fun learning Mandarin in a few centuries you tools.
i agree 100% with you, the problem is way bigger than this, but hey lets delete our blizzard account while still buying/using other chinese products
Actions of the President and government are out of my control. What I do with my personal finances is. Actions like this are enough to make me drop Blizzard
I don't recall you ever criticizing the Chinese government on Out of Cards before. Know why? Because this is a Hearthstone fan site; Video games shouldn't be involved in politics, and Blizzard supporting China is unacceptable; if no one ever did anything because it wouldn't have a "big enough impact," the world wouldn't function.You're not being edgy or smart by pointing out that not playing Hearthstone will topple Chinese dictatorship. But you seriously don't think all the controversey surrounding Blizzard and the NBA atm won't affect anything at all? Give me a break, go back to calling people inbred for disagreeing with you about "a children's card game" in your own words.
cool, so let's put a dent into an american company. That surely will make them suddenly reconsider and drop the ENTIRE CHINESE MARKET
you're a clown for thinking this does anything other than put up a smokescreen
It's about being on the right side of history. Adam Silver and the NBA understand this, and they are above the knee-jerk reactions on display here by Blizzard. Obviously some kind of response was warranted, but this was way too heavy and it just doesn't sit well with many of us.
As stated, we're all entitled to respond as we see fit, and small actions do make a difference collectively.
Well, the NBA lost their connection to China. Maybe the same could happen to Blizzard.
I don't think it will need nearly a century.
Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to see this when I woke up. In all of my years of playing Hearthstone, I've never seen anything like this.
This... this is crazy.
This isnt right. Very disappointed in Blizzard. Look at what's happened with Houston and the NBA. They didnt fire Daryl Morey for his comments or apologize. Blizzard, an American company, not respecting freedom of speech. A sad day for those who into esports.
No politics in an official gaming event. Easy rule.
Siding is always problematic, and you shouldn't really try to steer a neutral event on one side, or the other.
Or better, you can, but it is your own, personal responsibility, and you take the full consequences of your actions.
Point is, how exactly do you judge? As much as each case appears obvious to us, it isn't, especially if we detach from our western set of values.
Banned players gained a ban in exchange of visibility. It's pretty fair tbh. Revolutions are not free.
What do you think hurts Blizzard's reputation more: Blitzchung asking to keep his human rights, or banning him?
Obviously the first one, unless we want to see the world from an idealistic point of view.
We also have to consider the precedent factor. Blizz must keep its neutrality at all costs.
I am not criticizing Blitzchung btw, just in case it was not clear.
I am saying the punishment is still pretty fair, for the visibility he gained, and for the high relevance of the matter he could remark.
what is there left to hurt?