Blizzard Suspends Hearthstone Player For Hong Kong Support, Pulls Prize Money

[downnola]

Corporations are woke as fuck until it hurts their bottom line. I say we give them some additional tax breaks so they can weasel their way into more totalitarian societies with extra capital. They deserve it because it would be socialism otherwise.

[zenkai]

Good.

Politics don't belong in games (or sports or anywhere else that is not political). All politics do is divide, which is counter productive for anything non-political.

^--all that needs to be said.

[Ghostpanther]

Doesn't Blizzard still have WoW servers there?

[quras]

If only he had taken a Knee....

Interesting take. Make me wonder what would have happened.

[Saucexorzski]

Interesting take. Make me wonder what would have happened.

Probably the same thing. As folks have said, blizzard wants money and china has money. I think Matt and Tray put is best in their tweet to china.

[Sorshen]

They have business partners in China, they can't have this. It's pretty shitty.

[Paranoid Android]

You could actually have this thread also be about the NBA. Sorry Hearthstone players but the NBA is bigger news.

Anyways this is what happens when you make a deal with the devil. The love that money from China, but speak up and the Chinese government will have business react.

Every US business and person(s) involved in making money will now remain silent. Back to the NBA let's say players like LeBron, who speaks up against injustice, may likely stay silent. A lot shoes and apparel sold in China.

[FelPlague]

https://kotaku.com/blizzard-suspends...upp-1838864961

yeah sadly this is a cluster fuck of an issue, im seeing alot of people hate on blizz but this is a super big issue, more then epople give credit.

1. dude broke the rules bringing politics into the game, i dont think anyone wants politics, we dont want people talking about fake news or how the goverment is out to get us, we want video games.

2. china makes a massive amount of money for blizzard, so much that if, like china has done in the past, banned blizzard games for defending this guy, could put the company under in just a few years.


so what was blizz supposed to do? defend the guy for breaking the no politics rule, and get all their games possibly banned in china, in a few years go under having to dissolve the company?


or ban 1 guy and move on.

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Seeing how Blizzard revenue in China has topped US since the release of BC, of course they did this.

Blizzard doesnt make games anymore, they are a money pit for investors. You're a moron if you think they would allow this affront on their masters.
Just look what happened to the NBA today. You think Blizzard wants to take that chance?

i mean they do make games, but they are also a money pit, that is literally what all AAA video game companies are.
and losing as you said their biggest market in an instant is a quick way for the company to go under, and every person in it to have to find a new job.

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Doesn't Blizzard still have WoW servers there?

yes, and most of their profits come from china, so by defending him, they would likely be banned, and then lose a massive amount of profits, easily enough to either have to go skeleton mode and fire many people, or right out go under.

[NED funded]

Good. Companies should not play Politics or get involved in them, especially when they foreign Companies.
Otherwise you get things the United Fruit Company.

I mean can you Imagine if a Chinese Company started supporting Southern Succession and the rebirth of the Confederacy? They woukld be expelled from the US before you can blink.

This is the worst comparison I've seen. A more adequate comparison is an athlete making controversial statements. Here they get rewarded handsomely with million dollar brand deals.

[FelPlague]

Although Personally I think it's shity, but if their bread and butter is in China, then the question is how hard to the wall should they be expected to go. Because if they didn't sanction this kid, then China could pull Blizzards ability to do business in China which would cost them Millions, which means less resources to make games and to hold competitions I would Imagine.
.

this right here, but make it much worse, china is not "millions" it is almost billions for blizzard, the warcraft movie 45 mil in US. almost three times that in china. China is a HUGE part of blizzard, and really most companies profits, to have them ban your product, is a quick way to go under.

[JohnBrown1917]

This is the worst comparison I've seen. A more adequate comparison is an athlete making controversial statements. Here they get rewarded handsomely with million dollar brand deals.

You mean like how the NFL kept Kaepernick out of the league?

[Lustrick]

I have mixed feelings on this. China is disgusting in what they are doing and the world needs to pay attention and take action. The player knew what he was doing and understood the consequences. Respectful and admirable.

Blizzard is a video game company. It's explicitly stated in their documents that this sort of action is justifiably punishable. Had it been any other topic or agenda being represented you would find a whole audience who would agree with this outcome. That said, it still leaves a bitter feeling because of how bad the situation is in Hong Kong.

Lastly, China has stupid amounts of influence. From Blizzard's standpoint, China could not only destroy their userbase, but sever business deals such as the unfortunate yet real partnership that is creating Diablo Immortal. All of those factors come down to loss of income, money, and have an adverse effect on employment.

[burzian]

This is the worst comparison I've seen. A more adequate comparison is an athlete making controversial statements. Here they get rewarded handsomely with million dollar brand deals.

For what I thought would be obvious reasons, you probably managed to pull the one comparison worse than the one you were making fun of.

On topic: coward move by coward company. Wouldn't have expected anything different.

[Blayze]

If you get to ask a question at Blizzcon, say you're from Taiwan or Hong Kong.

[Ashnazg]

He probably should have thought twice before supporting anarchists. Hong Kong protesters are very quickly going to end up on the wrong side of history.

[NED funded]

You mean like how the NFL kept Kaepernick out of the league?

And Kaepernick was shown solidarity my multiple fellow athletes, became a sensation in America and received the backing of corporations in the form of million dollars brand deals.

Shitty comparisons but I don't expect much from leftists

[Svifnymr]

They will probably need to apologize, I mean, even South Park apologized:

[downnola]

And Kaepernick was shown solidarity my multiple fellow athletes, became a sensation in America and received the backing of corporations in the form of million dollars brand deals.

Shitty comparisons but I don't expect much from leftists

They showed solidarity until the NFL made it a policy to stand and "show respect" to the flag if they were on the field. Why is this a policy? Because Yokel Haram threw a shit fit over black men not standing during the national anthem. It's actually a good comparison because they're both cases of corporations stifling the expression of their employees to pander to snowflake authoritarians.

[burzian]

And Kaepernick was shown solidarity my multiple fellow athletes, became a sensation in America and received the backing of corporations in the form of million dollars brand deals.

Shitty comparisons but I don't expect much from leftists

This is just complete garbage. In the lawsuit, Kaepernick's estimated lost earnings just from football alone clocked in around $40 million. "Shown solidarity by fellow athletes" is, uh, an interesting thing to include but happens to be very debatable in addition to being irrelevant. It seems like the brand deal/corporations thing is the meat of your point, but Kaepernick had brand deals when he was a player, too, and more of them. Maybe you forgot all the brands that dropped him after the initial wave of anthem protests. I guess you must have. The most ridiculous part has gotta be "became a sensation in America" though; chuds were burning his jerseys in the street and hanging effigies from ropes. He definitely got some well-deserved credit from some people, but let's call America's reaction "mixed."

Anyway, Kaepernick is an excellent comparison here, but not for any of the reasons you mentioned. In both situations, completely innocuous political statements lead to powerful corporate entities damaging and shunning a player to protect their economic interests and punish the wrong kind of political speech.

[sarahtasher]

Question, when people make some vague comment about gender or racial issues, the usual suspects screams that this is politics shoved down their throats. This is, for the record, actual politics.