I'm surprised no one made a thread about this already. I'm interested to know yal's thoughts so I guess I'll do it even though I haven't played a game by them in years. Starcraft used to be my life though, so I am pretty disappointed to see them side with money rather than humanity, but I guess that shouldn't be surprising coming from a giant company.

Incase ya haven't heard:

Update: Blizzard finally speaks!

https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/23185888/regarding-last-weekend-s-hearthstone-grandmasters-tournament

"I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision."

lol pure bullshit. We can even see this article was put up from China as it's still the 11th here in the US yet the date says it was posted on the 12th, which it is in China.

"If this had been the opposing viewpoint delivered in the same divisive and deliberate way, we would have felt and acted the same."

You heard it hear first folks, freedom from oppression is a divisive subject!

Incase anyone is still fooling themselves into thinking this is about upholding rules:

Isn't it pretty standard practise to not allow this kind of thing? Brings to mind the Palestinian protests made at eurovision, that resulted in punishment. A hearthstone tournament just isn't the place for it.

Really the only reason people are latching onto this ban is because it's a message they agree with, if it wasn't then they wouldn't care. But political statements being ok to make or not shouldn't be dictated by whether it's a popular message or not.

I'm surprised VGC still haven't made a article about this .

Sadly some people would probably want you lynched for saying that, but I think yours is a fair standpoint. If Nintendo did something similar I wouldn't boycott em, couldn't live without my Splatoon, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, etc.

Boycotts don't work. Why? Because people don't follow through, especially when it comes to gaming. How many of these Blizzard fans are really not going to pick up Diablo 4? Overwatch 2? the next WoW expansion?

How much less is Diablo 4 going to sell? Tens of Thousands? Thousands? Barely a blip. Boycotts don't work because people don't believe they make a difference and ultimately when it comes down to it, they want the product they know they love more then they want to deprive Blizzard of $60 for doing something they disagree with.

This Boycott won't affect their bottom line because people are going to be vocal about supporting it online, but then buy and play it anyway. Because they love the games.

True but the punishment was unnecessarily severe.

It's a popular message because it's the correct message. However I think the biggest issue is Blizzard siding with China.

I play/have played Diablo 3 and Overwatch although not recently due to non-blizzard related things (Overwatch meta changes and well, have plat Diablo3). I think Blizzard reacted as best it could if not a little harshly, I think the player using a game interview to voice his opinion is a little misguided even if his intentions were good.

Politics and sports coverage are generally not mentioned together as a lot of the time people don't want to upset others while maintaining a good standing as generally all those doing the sporting events don't care about those things in the context of their profession, they just want to play their sport. I don't expect a manager or player for a Prem team to who happens to be from a certain place with problems to just start talking about it in the interview about their performance.

Whatever is happen it's negatively affecting Blizzard so ...

This was the best reaction? They could and should of just done nothing as what Blitzchung said offends nobody, well, nobody except the Chinese government lawlz. It was a 10 second comment during an interview, so it didn't get in the way of the event either.

Honestly after diablo 3.... which I found somewhat of a meh (for a diablo game)..... blizzard hasnt shown me much I'm instrested in.
So I wouldnt really call it a boycot, but Im not looking forwards to anything blizzard in future.

Blizzard as a developer has dropped from grace, imo.
They used to be kings (in their field), beloved by more or less every gamer.... not so much today.

It's... understandable? The rational and dry: Are there clear guidelines / rules what doesnt go and what the penalties are? If there are and the now banned player was aware of the consequences then Blizzard did nothing wrong.


The "don't you guys have phones" on the other hand made me... emotional. Really emotional. I am not a fan of any Blizzard IP.