![]() United States Senators Ron Wyden and Marco Rubio spoke against the ban and co-signed a letter with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mike Gallagher, and Tom Malinowski sent to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, requesting a full reversal of the ban on Blitzchung. Some criticized the weight and impact of Blitzchung's ban as an unfair treatment when compared to lesser penalties that Blizzard had placed on Overwatch League professional players for vulgar statements and gestures on camera. Senators and Representatives to Activision Blizzard regarding the ban Others spoke out against Blizzard's actions, which appeared to be endorsing the Chinese government position. Some other commentators felt that Blizzard acted out of caution for its business interests with China, both Chinese government (who had censored support for the Hong Kong protests) and the Chinese technology giant Tencent, a partial owner of Activision Blizzard. Since Blitzchung's actions, which the Chinese government considers to be against China's national dignity, a Sina Weibo social media post on Blizzard's official Hearthstone channel, run by the company's Chinese publishing partner NetEase, publicly condemned his action. ![]() Public response Initial reaction ĭue to the political nature of this event, the official mainland Chinese sources were against Blitzchung's protests on the other side, most other sources were encouraging his action. ![]() Virtual stated that he had yet to be told why he had been fired from Blizzard's Taiwan offices. Yee only knew moments before the interview that Blitzchung would be wearing a mask, and when Blitzchung started his statement related to the protest, the casters ducked their heads under their desk, so that it was evident that Blitzchung was only speaking for himself. Virtual stated to PC Gamer that he and Mr. Yee" they believed the two had been encouraging Blitzchung to express his message, and thus also running afoul of the rule. Stream caster contract terminations īlizzard additionally terminated the contract with the two stream casters that had been conducting the interview, "Virtual" and "Mr. Blitzchung, in an interview afterwards, stated that he had done the act of protest because his effort towards the social movement over the preceding months sometimes interfered with his preparation for the tournament. Blizzard later said that while they respect its players' freedom of speech, they are still bound by competition rules. The company cited a rule that prohibits Grandmasters players from offending the public, making political speech or impugning Blizzard's image. The following day, on October 7, Blizzard announced that Blitzchung had been banned from the current tournament, would forfeit any prize money (approximately US$4,000 by that point), and would be banned from other Grandmaster tournaments for one year. On October 6, 2019, during the Hearthstone Grandmasters streaming event in Taiwan, Ng Wai Chung, a professional Hearthstone player and resident of Hong Kong known as "Blitzchung", was being interviewed following his match, during which he donned a mask similar to those worn by protesters in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests and said " Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times". The public's response, which included a boycott and a letter from United States Congress representatives to Activision Blizzard, prompted Blizzard to reduce the punishment, but not to eliminate it.Įvents Blizzard Entertainment logo Banning of Ng Wai Chung Blizzard also terminated their contract with the two livestream presenters who were interviewing Blitzchung. In October 2019, American video game developer Blizzard Entertainment punished Ng Wai Chung (吳偉聰) (known as Blitzchung), a Hong Kong esports player of the online video game Hearthstone, for voicing his support of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests during an official streaming event. This photo predates the Blitzchung controversy by about ten months. In this photo, Blitzchung's opponent appears to be requesting assistance from a Blizzard employee during the match. Blitzchung, a pro-democracy player representing Hong Kong, in a tournament against another player, at the Google Play Booth B211, World Trade Center One, USA, January 28, 2019.
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