BlizzCon 2019: "We will do better going forward" - Blizzard on Hong Kong
Before Blizzcon officially began the team at Blizzard took a moment to directly address their recent controversy.
Ahead of the Blizzcon opening ceremonies today in Anaheim, CA the team at Blizzard took a moment to directly address the recent controversy surrounding Hearthstone and the protest happening in Hong Kong. Recently the company has come under scrutiny for their treatment of a player who made a political statement during a tournament. To that point, President of Blizzard J Allen Brack came out and delivered a statement in which he admitted that the company had handled the issue poorly and would endeavour to better in the future when dealing with such controversial social issues.
"Blizzard had the opportunity to bring the world together... and we did not. And worse, we were too slow to talk you. We didn't live up to the high standards we set for ourselves. For that, I'm sorry and I accept accountability." stated Brack and went on promise "We will do better going forward. But our actions are going to matter more than any of these words. As you walk around this weekend, I hope it’s clear how committed we are to people expressing themselves."
Blizzard had previously suspended Hearthstone player blitzchung after he wore a mask and expressed his support for the current political protests happening in Hong Kong. They also took away all of his prize earnings. Hearthstone fans did not take kindly to the company’s response and reacted with a boycott movement.
Blizzard then suddenly found themselves synonymous with China and censorship with many blaming its ties to Chinese corporations for their harsh response to blitzchung. Since then, Blizzard has pulled back on their initial punishments towards blitzchung, but this is the first time that Blizzard has publicly admitted they did not handle the entire situation properly. We'll see if the company actually puts their money where their mouth is going forward.
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replyBlake Morse posted a new article, BlizzCon 2019: "We will do better going forward" - Blizzard on Hong Kong
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anyone who wants to boycott Blizzard should continue to do so. Short of stopping all business with China, there's little Blizzard can do to change in a way that helps those oppressed by the Chinese government. i dont expect them to do that and, im pretty sure im getting D4 and OW2 still.
that being said i wont be buying clothing and other items that are made in china, as far as i can help it.
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I would be very surprised if Diablo 4 in it's current form makes it to China. The game is either going to be completely sanitized for the Chinese market or will be banned. Because remember China only supports real blood and torture not fake blood and torture in video games.
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yea, honestly that's not a bad idea. probably would be tricky to set up for streaming rights / legal wise. but certainly do-able.
maybe just one feed and then run it through a chinese company with a delay to let them do whatever for their audience.
doesnt mean blizz changes their policies about political statements though.-
Or just be like, dude not our problem. We can "censor" our actual games content to appease your bullshit, that's one thing but we're not gonna be your internet police, for it's actual users around the world, that's your issue to deal with however you want.
Just get a PR person to write that shit, and everyone's good. God damn this pisses me off
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