BlizzCon & #FreeHongKong
When it comes to digital media and content, there’s a large disparity between what’s available and permissible from country to country, and state to state. Some countries, such as Germany, have troubling pasts with extreme ideologies, and thus have equally troubling relations with the content that they allow within their respective territories. As such, it’s not uncommon for American companies to edit their content (sometimes in quite severe ways) to fall in line with these restrictions with the hopes of infiltrating these international markets and China is no exception.
With a population of 1.386 billion people - a figure that’s growing exponentially every year - it’s no secret that China is a literal goldmine when it comes to demographics. If, for example, a film were to tap even a small percentage of the Chinese population, it’d be almost guaranteed to make back its budget and then some. Infiltrating this market, though, is no easy task. Being a communist country, China is notorious for having strict control over the content that its citizens are allowed to interact with, as well as for punishing any citizen who contradicts the views of the state. As one would expect, numerous companies have seemingly bent over backwards to meet these standards, ranging from the tech giant Apple, to Disney, to TikTok, and even Google, whose motto is, ironically, “Do the right thing; Don’t be evil.” The morality behind the sort of self-censorship that companies undergo in this process is...debatable to say the least, but it’s generally been accepted that, so long as these practices were limited to corporate exposure and public relations, corporations could do what they wanted in the pursuit of growth. In recent months, though, some American companies have taken it upon themselves to censor their user-base on behalf of Chinese interests, proving that their loyalty lies not with the country within which they were founded but with that which brings it the most revenue. Activision Blizzard is one such company.
Activision Blizzard is no stranger when it comes to controversy. In 2019 alone, it’s come under fire for implementing egregious microtransactions into Crash Team Racing, making a gamemode within Call of Duty: Modern Warfare exclusive to the PlayStation 4 version until October of next year, and a host of other malpractices. Most recently, and perhaps most heinous of all, Activision Blizzard has mishandled the situation involving a professional Hearthstone player. Chung Ng Wai, better known by his alias, “Blitzchung,” is a Hearthstone Grandmaster and, notably, a native of Hong Kong. Wai, who has played in a vast number of competitions over the past two years of his esports career, managed to secure several thousands of dollars in winnings over the course of this year’s Grandmasters Season 2 tournament. However, Wai has come into the public-eye not because of his victories in the Grandmasters, but because of an interaction he had with two broadcasters during a livestreamed post-game interview. When Blitzchung was shown on screen, it was revealed that he was wearing a gas mask and goggles, similar to those worn by the many protesters in Hong Kong. When given the chance to speak, Blitzchung lifted the mask from his face to proudly shout the words “Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times!” With that, the stream promptly cut to commercial break.
Normally, companies don’t tend to push their political agenda on their users, especially when they are widely known competitive players, but Blizzard decided to be different. Rather than wait for the Chinese media to issue some sort of statement regarding Blitzchung’s exclamation, Blizzard publicly announced that he would have his winnings revoked, and he would be banned from tournament play for an entire year. Blizzard would later go on to backtrack; awarding Blitzchung his earnings and shortening his punishment down to six months. This was too little, too late, though, as Blizzard had made it clear to the gaming community and to the rest of the world that it would stand with another country rather than its own players. The public was furious, and not just the gaming community, either, but people of all makes and occupations. Even U.S. senators were giving their two cents, from both sides of the political spectrum. For weeks, Blizzard bounced back and forth, trying to appease both the American public and the Chinese media, not truly satisfying either. It seemed as though an apology was in order, one which properly addressed Blizzard’s shortcomings and reaffirmed its core values: “Think Globally” and “Every Voice Matters.”
This issue needed to be addressed at a greater scale, one which paralleled/matched the scale of such a controversy. Enter BlizzCon, Blizzard’s annual convention where it hosts events, contests, and announces new games for the upcoming year. For many present, though, this year’s convention wasn’t so much about the celebration of Blizzard’s many beloved games and their respective characters, but about its response to the almost-universal backlash they received from players around the world. Sure enough, during the opening ceremony for BlizzCon 2019, the CEO of Blizzard, J. Allen Brack, took to the stage to say:
“Blizzard had the opportunity to bring the world together in a tough Hearthstone esports moment a month ago, and we did not. We moved too quickly in our decision-making, and, to make matters worse, we were too slow to talk with all of you. When I think about what I’m most unhappy about, there’s really two things. The first one is, we didn’t live up to the high standards that we, really, set for ourselves. And the second is, we failed in our purpose. And for that, I am sorry, and I accept accountability.”
For most of the audience present, this seemed like a reasonable apology. If you examine the wording more closely, however, Blizzard’s true intentions shine through: Brack didn’t apologize for banning a player for fear of offending another country, but for “moving too quickly” and being “too slow” to address the community’s concerns, neither of which were areas of contention. What everyone really wanted was for the massive company which has scorned its customers so frequently in the past to stand up and say, “Hey! We stand by our players and their right to free speech.” But that didn’t happen. And the internet is furious.
