Blizzard apology makes fans even angrier

Blizzard has had quite a hard week owing to the whole Blitzchung fiasco. Their decision to ban him for supporting Hong Kong protests and firing the casters who interviewed him did not sit well with the fans and rest of the gaming community. Even US politicians weighed in an there was a whole segment on the issue on CNN. After the immense backlash, Blizzard president J Allen Brack made an official apology. And the official Blizzard apology did not sit well with fans.

In the apology, they said that they would be releasing Blitzchung’s prize money and the ban would be reduced to six months instead of a year. Brack said that they penalised Blitzchung because it wasn’t the correct platform and it was only meant to talk about the game. He said, “Every Voice Matters, and we strongly encourage everyone in our community to share their viewpoints in the many places available to express themselves. However, the official broadcast needs to be about the tournament and to be a place where all are welcome. In support of that, we want to keep the official channels focused on the game.”

Regarding the casters, Brack said, “With regard to the casters, remember their purpose is to keep the event focused on the tournament. That didn’t happen here, and we are setting their suspension to six months as well.”

When Blitzchung made the controversial statements, the casters had ducked their heads to show they wanted to do nothing with the statement and later said something to the lines of, “Bro, that’s enough”.

But what has really got people angered is this part of the apology:

“The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made. I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision.”

Fans said that this was a complete lie, based on the statement the official Hearthstone account made on Weibo, a Chinese social media website. Translated by IGN, a part of it reads:

“We express our strong indignation and condemnation of the events that occurred in the Hearthstone Asia Pacific competition last weekend and absolutely oppose the dissemination of personal political ideas during any events . The players involved will be banned, and the commentators involved will be immediately terminated from any official business. Also, we will protect our national dignity .”

Many people also called out the Blizzard apology on the fact that the American collegiate team which held up a sign saying “Free Hong Kong, Boycott Blizzard” during a broadcast of Hearthstone tournament had not been reprimanded.

This is doubling down. Nothing rings true here, especially given how American collegiate players got a pass. https://t.co/TX7Nl4EqI0

— Mike Futter (@Futterish) October 12, 2019

Trading cowardice for unfathomable incompetence isn’t remotely the win Blizzard seems to think it is https://t.co/LFvwCHXVez

— Milena Rodban (@MilenaRodban) October 12, 2019

As is expected, Twitter and r/Blizzard subreddit are yet again mercilessly pounding on Blizzard. There is an effort to make, Mei, the Chinese character in Overwatch, the mascot of Hong Kong protests. If it does prove to be successful, Blizzard might get banned in China.