Published , by Shack Staff
Published , by Shack Staff
Welcome back to Shack Chat, a weekly column where the Shack staff discusses a topical issue, game, or company, and then opens the floor for our Shacknews Chatty community to weigh in. This week, we're talking about Blizzard Entertainment, one of the industry's most beloved publishers and developers.
Before we dig in, let's establish some context. Hong Kong's people have been staging demonstrations against a bill that, if put into action, would allow Hong Kong to detail and extradite fugitives from other territories with which the government does not have extradition agreements. The protestors gave demands that included investigations into police misconduct, among others.
After his victory at the Asia-Pacific Grandmasters tournament, blitzchung gave an interview in which he shared his support for the people of Hong Kong. Blizzard, which hosted the tournament, immediately cut off the interview, fired the broadcasters who'd been interviewing blitzchung, suspended the player for 12 months, and revoked his winnings.
The company's actions spurred a backlash online as well as protests by developers on the studio's Irvine, California-based campus. Blizzard responded by giving blitzchung his money and halving his suspension from one year to six months. At BlizzCon '19, Blizzard president J. Allen Brack gave an apology, stating that the company had acted too quickly.
This week, the Shack staff has been discussing the company's actions, and wants to know:
I went through a lot of revisions for this week’s question and I think what it boils down for me is Blizzard appears to have sided with China and took some aggressive steps to prove it. While they’ve dialed back on blitzchung’s punishment it’s still not enough to fix the fact that they were willing to appease China’s desires so quickly to begin with. It reminds me a lot of when the NFL started cracking down on players who were taking a knee. Both of these situations involve people trying to draw attention to oppressed minorities being censored by foundations that could have let them have a platform. It’s disappointing, but hardly shocking.
Admittedly, it’s not that difficult for me to boycott a company who doesn’t have any games I’m actively playing. I was into Overwatch when it initially came out, but I haven’t played it in over a year, and I don’t have to worry about Destiny since it’s now just owned by Bungie (not that I’ll be going back to it anytime soon either). I loved Diablo 2, but I haven’t played it since I was a teenager essentially. It’s not hard for me to avoid a company who has nothing intriguing to offer me at the moment, so in some ways it’s like I’m already set to boycott by default. The real test will come when they put out something I am into, like if they announced a new Lost VIkings game or Rock and Roll Racing.
As for my job in the press, I don’t think I would ever stop reporting on a company even if I didn’t like them because information is an important thing for people to have no matter what it’s about. But I don’t think that telling people the news is the same thing as a glowing endorsement. Especially if I’m editorializing and end up tearing them a new one.
For now, I sincerely hope that Blizzard’s J Allen Brack not only meant what he said before the BlizzCon 2019 keynote, but that they actually stick to those convictions and show themselves to be more than China’s bootlicks, which is frankly what they look like right now to me.
It is almost impossible to exist in 2019 without engaging with a product or service with ties to China. That being said, it is easy to draw a line in the sand when it comes to a company’s behavior. Blizzard reached that point with me when they decided to ban blitzchung and two commentators for post-game comments in favor of liberation for Hong Kong.
I will not be buying any new Blizzard games as a result, but we will continue to cover the company here at Shacknews. Luckily, I have plenty of comrades… I mean staff members who will jump on the opportunity to play the latest video games for review, guide, preview, and gameplay coverage. I have yet to delete Blizzard’s Battle.net launcher as I sometimes have to capture Overwatch gameplay, but I certainly won’t be adding to my library on there any time soon.
I own an iPhone made in China, but Apple has never done anything this brazenly against the Freedom of Speech. Many of our game consoles are made over there too, and Tencent Holdings is gobbling up companies left and right. It is incredibly difficult to decide how exactly to voice your opinion in the face of this, but I recommend looking at each company’s actions on a case by case basis.
The fact that the Chinese government is influencing the messaging of a U.S. media company is very troubling. I will likely avoid companies who compromise their brands by kowtowing to the government of a country that is rounding up muslims and imprisoning dissenters.
This is a tough question for me, because I've made it clear that Hearthstone is one of my favorite games of all-time. I've come to truly enjoy covering the best that Blizzard's had to offer. But it's been over the last few weeks that's cemented my response, seeing the developers at Blizzard and the community come together to represent what the company's ideals can and should be.
It started the first week of the blitzchung controversy, where the rank-and-file of the Irvine campus came together to stage their own protest, expressing their own feelings on the matter by covering parts of the campus statues. Then it was in seeing everybody at Blizzcon coming together to lift each other up, to celebrate what it means to be a community united. They're friends and families, they're artists, they're writers, they're people with passions. It's a reminder that management is always the first face everybody sees and they should be held accountable for their terrible actions. But the community and the workers are the ones who I'll ultimately stand behind.
Blizzard is bigger than its management, just the way that Activision is more than its management, EA is more than its management, Telltale was more than its management, Ubisoft (back when it was at its worst) was more than its management. It's possible to support the people of Hong Kong and also support the good that Blizzard still stands for.
I’ve been a fan of Blizzard and their games since I was introduced to WarCraft II. I’m pretty appalled at their behavior lately. It’s pretty obvious that the current CEO, in my opinion, is doing what’s he’s told to do through Actvision. I’ll continue to play and cover their games on Shacknews, and I’ll do so without bias on their stance on China, but I won’t give them money anymore.
They needed to make a stand, and they didn’t. Granted any big company would’ve done the same thing if a player or developer took a stand on any politician or politican matter: Trump or Bernie Sanders, medicare for all, Immigration or anti-Immigration. Companies hate being tied to controversial politics that directly affect the shareholders. What really gets me mad is when a company comes out and says, in effect, “Don’t punish the developers for something the board of suites decided.” My response to that is simple, don’t put your consumers in a position where they have to in the first place. If you want to express your distaste for Blizzard, just don’t give them money. Play Overwatch, HOTS, and Hearthstone all you want, but just resist the urge to spend cash on the game itself.
Since childhood, I’ve held two companies in high regard: Nintendo, and Blizzard. They’ve been constants. Nintendo is the company that introduced me to video games as a hobby. I’ve enjoyed Blizzard’s games since the first Diablo, but that franchise and its creators (plural, always and forever) have influenced my personal and professional lives. My Uncle Brad, who’s been a father figure since I can remember, worked at Blizzard North during my high school years. As a graduation gift, this relative, my uncle, flew me to San Jose for a week, and one of our activities was a day trip to Blizzard North, where I got to hang out with the Diablo 2 crew a week or two before the game shipped. That connection opened doors that got me started on my path to becoming an author. My Stay Awhile and Listen series (which doesn’t earn Blizzard a dime) has been a bestseller; it put me on the map, so in a way, Blizzard put me on the map.
I’m a privileged person. I’m a white, heteroexual man living in the USA. That’s not to say I haven’t had more than my fair share of problems, but those problems come from a shared set of challenges that anyone can relate with: finances, relationships, the loss of loved ones. There are countless other problems I’ll never have to face, and thus will not understand. My stance in this matter is part of my pursuit of that understanding.
What Blizzard did to blitzchung and the commentators who had the audacity to do their jobs and interview the winner of a video game feels wrong to me, even though it subjectively is not. Pro players and streamers sign a mountain-sized pile of paperwork that spells out behavior Blizzard considers appropriate or inappropriate. Many Blizzard employees have protested on their campus, and spoken out against their company’s stance. However, they also pointed out that streams sponsored by Blizzard are not platforms for others to co-opt. They belong to Blizzard, and like any other Twitch channel, are subject to Blizzard’s rules. If blitzchung or any other streamer wants to share their positions on their own streaming channels, that’s fine. Blizzard has encouraged this.
I get where Blizzard is coming from. I even agree to a point. In 2019, though, I find it impossible to be nonpartisan, or apathetic to politics. Blizzard has the right to penalize blitzchung and anyone else who goes against the rules outlined for Blizzard’s platforms. I have the right to be disappointed in how they handled their enforcement of this rule, and hope for one of my favorite companies--which, yes, they still are--to do better in the future.
What Blizzard has done is awful, but Asif’s answer tells you why I’m not likely to boycott them. We just don’t get that luxury in this business. It’s our responsibility to cover gaming news so on that front, I won’t be boycotting Blizzard professionally. However, I won’t be spending my own money on their games or services, so I guess from a personal standpoint I’m boycotting them.
On a side note, I’m at a point where I’m having a hard time keeping up with all the things I should boycott or be outraged by. I’m not suggesting for a second anyone is blowing what Blizzard has done out of proportion, there is just so much noise coming at me these days about what to avoid because of crappy people or companies it’s overwhelming. At the end of the day, though, one of my favorite games, Destiny 2, is no longer associated with Blizzard, and I’m glad that makes it easier to avoid them.
I don’t really play Blizzard games to begin with, so saying I’m boycotting it seems like I’m getting in on the bandwagon for appearances’ sake.
I also know very little about geopolitics or what’s going on in Hong Kong and China. Part of this is because of how removed Australia is from the rest of the world and its numerous problems, and part of it is my own ignorance.
I’ll go on not playing Blizzard games, as they don’t really speak to me. Unless of course work requires me to play one for guide purposes.
As to whether I’ve boycotted another company due to political reasons, I have not. I have, however, opted to not support a company - such as EA - for their actions on microtransactions. Other companies, like Ubisoft, I tend to avoid as I dislike how their games are becoming one big amalgamation of one another.
I don’t really play any Blizzard games to begin with. My love for Overwatch fizzled years ago, and I haven’t launched Diablo III since 2015. I never got into any of the company’s other big titles such as Hearthstone or World of Warcraft. With all of that being said, it’s pretty easy for me to put my foot down and say I’m not playing and Blizzard games, because I wasn’t doing it anyway. The real test will come when their newer projects start hitting shelves. I’ll have to see if their complete ineptitude in response to the Hong Kong protests is still strong enough to keep me away from Overwatch 2 or Diablo IV when the time comes.
Big corporations say and do stupid things on a regular basis. I don’t have any immediate examples of times my favorite developers taking actions that rubbed me the wrong way, but I’m sure that if I went back and combed through, my plate would be full of brands and companies to boycott.
I'm not interested in boycotting any companies for any reason. I have very little time as it is to enjoy the things I want to and admittedly pay zero attention to politics. I'm going to play the games I'm interested in, regardless of where their companies stand, just as I would watch movies, listen to music, or read books by individuals or organizations that others find controversial. I've never boycotted companies in the past, either.
I'm interested in seeing what Diablo IV has to offer and I enjoy Blizzard games, so I'm going to play them. I also need to play them in many instances to speak on them, so I'm not just going to stop doing that all of a sudden because the general consensus is that Blizzard is doing something unsavory. Life is too short to not enjoy things I’m curious about, and with my extremely hectic schedule, that means spending time with said things whenever I can.
I’ve never been big into boycotting companies. While I get the idea that “hurt them with the money” that everyone seems to jump on the bandwagon of, I just don’t think it’s really an effective way to get your point across. The problem with boycotting is, you can spend your entire life boycotting someone, but they still have thousands or millions who will continue to support them. Sure, the principle is there, but at the end of the day are you really making a difference at all? Or is it just making you feel good?
When it comes to the Blizzard situation, the way that they handled it was so wrong. But I’m not boycotting them because, at the end of the day, they had rules in place for their system, and someone broke those rules. Did they do it for a good reason? Sure. Absolutely. But that still doesn’t change that they broke the rules and thus Blizzard had every right to punish them in some way. Was the punishment a bit too harsh? Sure. Absolutely. But again, it goes back to “they had the right to do it, this person broke the rules.”
So, no. I’m not boycotting Blizzard, and I don’t really believe in boycotting period. Just how I feel on the subject. Also, I don’t really get to choose what things I cover as someone working in this field, so I don’t have the liberty to shutting things down like others do. I’ve got a job to do, and if I don’t do it, I don’t get to eat. Also, Diablo 4 looks pretty cool.
I’m an esports guy. I live and breathe competitive gaming, and Overwatch and Hearthstone are… for the time being… still a part of that sphere. For me it’s bigger than buying or selling games. That might be the bottom line for Activision Blizzard, but their games are bigger than their company. Overwatch League and competitive Hearthstone are living, breathing, fervent communities. They are thousands of hopeful kids playing, grinding, strategizing, and coming together across thousands of miles to engage in a thing they love and/or prove their worth. It’s beautiful to me to see what people can do with these simple games when the community comes together. Many of them might not know about the politics. They just want to play, compete, and share.
“Yeah, but TJ, there’s lots of competitive games. Maybe pick a different community?” Which one? League of Legends? Owned by Tencent. DOTA 2 or CSGO? Owned by Valve which has its own mess of questionable practices. Call of Duty? Still Activision Blizzard. Fighting games? Infiltration came back from domestic abuse allegations and they praised his return. Mind you, I have a love for all of these aforementioned communities and more, but the point I want to make is that there are a lot of bad, dumb things in gaming. They have happened a lot and they will continue to happen. I’m not going to give Blizzard a pass by a long shot. What they did to blitzchung and those two casters was trash and their apology was a joke.
Instead of cutting Blizzard and its communities from my life, I’m going to demand (i.e. scream from the mountaintops) that they be better, and never let them forget the stupid things they did until they prove to me that they are better. And I say unto you, if you claim to love Overwatch League or competitive Hearthstone or other competitive Blizzard games… heck even if you’re into the non-competitive communities like World of Warcraft and Diablo… you should probably demand the same.