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

[Edge-]

So what is the problem with continue playing blizz games?

That's missing the point of the comic. The comic is pointing out that one can use a product/service (or be a part of a society) while also wanting that product/service/society to improve and be vocally critical to that point.

The whole, "WELL IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS THEN YOU SHOULDN'T USE ANYTHING MADE IN CHINA!" non-argument is just that, a non-argument used as a pointless "gotcha" attempt that tries to shut down actual discussion.

[JohnBrown1917]

That's missing the point of the comic. The comic is pointing out that one can use a product/service (or be a part of a society) while also wanting that product/service/society to improve and be vocally critical to that point.

The whole, "WELL IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS THEN YOU SHOULDN'T USE ANYTHING MADE IN CHINA!" non-argument is just that, a non-argument used as a pointless "gotcha" attempt that tries to shut down actual discussion.

Yes.. exactly.. So what exactly is the problem with playing blizzard games after this whole ordeal?

[Edge-]

Yes.. exactly.. So what exactly is the problem with playing blizzard games after this whole ordeal?

Oh sorry, I misread your post in my pre-caffeinated state. Ignore me -_-

[Kereberus]

So no statement just yet. I assumed we'd have one by now. I wonder if blizzard will just ignore this.

[Yunru]

Well, the British wanted an open trade with China without the bureaucratic BS interfering as well a foothold into China, so they didn't have to travel all the way to the nearest port which was in India. That's how they got their hands on Hong Kong in the 1st place.
Not gonna argue about CK-S, but Sun Yat-sen was a saint. His idea on 3 Principles of the people was the founding cornerstone for the Chinese republic. But democracy couldn't exist until all of China was finally reunited into one. However at the end of Civil war, when it become apparent that the Communist have taken full control of Mainland they had no choice but to make a transition to become a stable nation of their own.
And yeah, war is a horrible thing, I won't argue that either. But it's not the worst.

I may point up, but china is divided when it comes to hong kong language barrier:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Cantonese
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language
Taking Hong Kong may end up this language for good, as the Mandarians will send them to re-ducation camps.

[Huntingbear_grimbatol]

Interesting how I keep seeing people quote things like this, when it's easy to see from their financial reports that this isn't true.

I pulled up the 2nd quarter report for 2019, and it shows the first 6 months revenue of 2019, and where it came from:

ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
NET REVENUES BY GEOGRAPHIC REGION

Americas: 1,751b 54%
EMEA: 1.073b 33%
Asia Pacific: 396m 12%

All of Asia Pacific accounted for 12% of ATVI's revenues. I am not sure where the whole "Acti-Blizz makes more money in China than the US" comes from, but it's simply not true. The same chart showed their revenue in the first 6 months of 2018 in Asia Pacific was 402m (11% of total), so it didn't change much year to year 2018/19.

So really China is about 10% of ATVI's revenues...not the 30-50%+ I'm seeing people quote.

I am not taking a side here, I am merely posting some facts.

The thing is that China, and SE Asia, has a huge mobile gaming scene and mobile gaming revenue is over 50% of the total anual revenue for the entire gaming industy. Why is that important? Well Activision/Blizzard has yet to invest heavily into that market, but they're starting to, if they piss off China that's going to be a huge problem for them. Furthermore Activision/Blizzard are in the final steps from announcing Diablo 4, a genre that has been popular in China (Asia) before and still is. Piss off China is in general a very, very bad financial move. If Activision/Blizzard doesn't sing to Chinas power they risk being shut out of that entire market.

[s_bushido]

So no statement just yet. I assumed we'd have one by now.

They already have:
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/es...pacific-ruling

"Dude broke rules, dude got banned."

People don't like it, because they'd like to think it was just because he spoke out against China. But people being idiots doesn't really obligate Blizzard to say any more.

[Jshadowhunter]

I may point up, but china is divided when it comes to hong kong language barrier:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Cantonese
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language
Taking Hong Kong may end up this language for good, as the Mandarians will send them to re-ducation camps.

All the more reason why I'm on HK side.

[Edge-]

So no statement just yet. I assumed we'd have one by now. I wonder if blizzard will just ignore this.

Their best play is to stay quiet until everyone gets distracted by the next controversy. People have notoriously short memories and attention spans.

[Yunru]

Their best play is to stay quiet until everyone gets distracted by the next controversy. People have notoriously short memories and attention spans.

Yeah.....china is probaly waiting for a brexit to truly invade.

[Jshadowhunter]

Their best play is to stay quiet until everyone gets distracted by the next controversy. People have notoriously short memories and attention spans.

We'll see come blizzcon.
If Q&A for Diablo Immortal was priceless, it's gonna be pure gold for this.

[Edge-]

We'll see come blizzcon.
If Q&A for Diablo Immortal was priceless, it's gonna be pure gold for this.

I feel bad for the poor devs on stage, because this likely had nothing to do with them. They'll have a canned statement that will make nobody happy, but that's all they'll be able to say.

[rhorle]

If you surpress politics (voices and opinions) you no longer have a democracy, you have a supressive rulership- which in many cases are called totalitarian or dictatorships. "Politics don't belong in games (or sports or anywhere else that is not political)" That's the same as saying as opinions don't matter.

No it is not. Not every opinion should be shared anywhere or anytime. If you are employed by a company they should have every right to limit what you can say or do while representing that company aka "on the job". That isn't anti-democary. That isn't saying your opinion doesn't matter. It is saying that your actions need to reflect the group you are representing.

Besides that is a moot argument since you are voicing it on a website that promotes non-democracy since they have rules against sharing opinions and often suppress them with moderation.

- - - Updated - - -

The whole, "WELL IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS THEN YOU SHOULDN'T USE ANYTHING MADE IN CHINA!" non-argument is just that, a non-argument used as a pointless "gotcha" attempt that tries to shut down actual discussion.

Which is exactly what "if you don't like this then don't use Blizzard games" argument is doing. Shutting down actually discussion because of enforcing a rule that no one cared about prior to it involving anti-china protests. Focus on the real issue of China's terrible actions. Not a rule from a company that no one looked twice at.

[Daveon]

The thing is that China, and SE Asia, has a huge mobile gaming scene and mobile gaming revenue is over 50% of the total annual revenue for the entire gaming industy.

Oh yeah Asia Pacific includes Japan and S. Korea, I forgot about that, so really Activision-Blizzard's China revenues are probably closer to 5% of their overall revenues (Since S. Korea spends a ton as well on Blizzard and King products).

But you do make a good point about it being about the future revenue, and not about the past revenue.

Hopefully I edit this fast enough before anyone sees... You also make a good point about mobile dollars... King (mobile) accounts for roughly 35-40% of Activision-Blizzard's revenue... and when you add the small amount of mobile Activision and Blizzard do, it's getting close to 50% of ATVI's overall revenue coming from mobile games.

[shimerra]

No it is not. Not every opinion should be shared anywhere or anytime. If you are employed by a company they should have every right to limit what you can say or do while representing that company aka "on the job". That isn't anti-democary. That isn't saying your opinion doesn't matter. It is saying that your actions need to reflect the group you are representing.

Besides that is a moot argument since you are voicing it on a website that promotes non-democracy since they have rules against sharing opinions and often suppress them with moderation.

Yeah me not wanting you to come into my bedroom at 2 AM screaming the N word for 2 hours is just as non-democratic as this website banning people for saying things they don't want on their site. Shove that 2 year old non-democratic comment where it belongs, in the idiot bin. Them regulating what kind of conversation they want to take place on their platform is literally exactly zero different then a company saying they expect a certain behavior at work.


If you want to critique the overall quality and consistency that's one thing. It's definitely not going to win any awards. But what do you expect with what basically amounts to a small volunteer staff.

[IsaacHawke]

I donno bros
but it seems that twitter and FB are banning every Chinese account. no idea why but i guess there is something important we dont know yet or maybe never
since i cant see the whole picture, i wouldnt say a word about who is right or wrong
as far as I know this world is walking into another fcking cold war which only requires more hate to end ourselves like countless aliens that were suppose to reach earth before human can ever have a chance to walk with 2 legs

[Muzjhath]

People are the power. Regardless of profession, social status, financial status, education level etc. it's the people who are the power. Politics is people taking interest or effort into government and it's NOT limited to government officials, elected or unelected politicians or lobbyists. Politics is for everyone, you can't have democracy unless everyone is allowed to participate in politics.
Look at it this way, politics (the discussion and expression of opinions) is what makes democracy work. If you surpress politics (voices and opinions) you no longer have a democracy, you have a supressive rulership- which in many cases are called totalitarian or dictatorships.

"Politics don't belong in games (or sports or anywhere else that is not political)"
That's the same as saying as opinions don't matter.

The whole stick of "politics don't belong in games (or culture)" is one of the most stupid things I ever see anyone say. Since everything is political one way or another since it'll always show bias. Even if you do not intend for it do so so.
Take for example making all the good guys white, and all the bad guys black gang members. With no white bad guys or black good guys. Even if it's just lazy design it'll be a statement of politics.

Same with painting a bloody scene of a street. People will look at it and see shit in it.

[Kathranis]

I feel bad for the poor devs on stage, because this likely had nothing to do with them. They'll have a canned statement that will make nobody happy, but that's all they'll be able to say.

A lot of their devs (especially artists) are ethnically Chinese so it probably hits especially close to home for them.

I think there's a chance they'll throw some Blizzard Taiwan and NetEase people under the bus and try to maintain some degree of neutrality and distance, and maybe at Blizzcon they'll address it during the opening ceremony.

But it's a fine line they have to walk to save face at this point and for many it'll be too late.

[Big Thanks]

My personal gripe with the situation comes from the severity of the repercussions the player faced.
Because, in my opinion, they went full Rambo on the guy just to please to the Chinese government.
Blizzard didnt had to go full rambo...at all...not even close.

But the fact is Blizzard chose to be as severe as possible...to please China.

And i dont think my beliefs are tinfoil...just a normal assessment of the situation.

[Neufab]

Emperor Xi is pleased with his corporate american underlings.