Blizzard Finally Comments On Hearthstone Debacle, Reduces Suspensions And Returns Prize Money

After a week of controversy surrounding its decision to boot Hearthstone pro Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai from a tournament and suspend him for a year for delivering a pro-Hong-Kong message during an official broadcast, Blizzard has finally made a statement about the situation. It plans to allow Blitzchung to collect his prize money after all and reduce his suspension.

[-Foxtrot]

Only because they know Blizzcon is around the corner

[Nitrowolf2]

They gotta take some heat off before they announce diablo 4 and 5 as mobile exclusives

[-Foxtrot]

Lol

Funny you should say that

Who wants to bet right now they’ll announce Diablo 4 to try and make people forget about all of this aswell as last years events

[harmny]

They will announce Diablo 4. But not to make people forget about anything. But because they have it in development and it was almost announced last year

[LordoftheCritics]

They need to up the game. Warcraft 4 mobile.

[rainslacker]

Possibly so his sponsors didn't sue them to be honest.

He may not be able to sue himself, not sure about the law in China, which is why I say his sponsors may do it on his behalf. If the rules don't specifically state what he is allowed to say or not say, then there is no legal way to remove any owed to him without potential legal recourse. Just think about how RIOT came out and specifically said, "no political talk".

I don't think this was trying to avoid protests at Blizzcon, or them having a change of heart, or even trying to quell the situation. I think it was all a legal matter.

[MetalGearAlex]

Stupid. Reduce a sentence they should have never gave for SUPPORTING FREEDOM. South Park - Banned in China summed it up perfectly. #BoycottBlizzard #FreeHongKong Also, there's a massive Typhoon in Japan. And Syria needs help from Turkey.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

Spot on mate ✊

[MeteorPanda]

And iraqi's atm are getting shot in the thousands for wanting to work.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

Grimey sacks of shit, I won't be supporting them in the future. They've done their dash.

[harmny]

Let me guess you are adding it to your list of companies you won't support.

- Activision
- Blizzard
- EA
- Bethesda
- Ubisoft
- Epic

[RpgSama]

That's a wonderful list of companies I do not buy games from, the only game I bought in this whole generation from any one of those companies was Dragon Age Inquisition at the begining of the generation, and I regret even that.

[harmny]

I know. It's textbook n4g. But I wonder why the blizzard hate took so long knowing that they've been charging 15$ a month to play wow for the last 15 years

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

harmny - Absolutely right mate,

- I don't like Ubi games
- Battlefield isn't half as good as it once was, nothing else EA makes interests me
- Bethesda make shitty, bug ridden games
- Activision doens't make anything I like either
- EPIC deserve their success, UNREAL has been a huge part of game development. Although I don't agree with a few of the things they've done lately, it doesn't effect me in anyway as I don't game on PC.

[glenn1979]

The damage has been done, there no turning back now

[bluefox755]

See folks, this is what we can accomplish if we speak up. I don't believe for a second that Blizzard was motivated to do this by anything but perceived threats to their bottom line, but if enough of us speak up and remind corporate America that they need us more than we need them, they will listen.

[Sam Fisher]

Blizzcon is closeby. They not listening they trying to save their asses

[Blu3_Berry]

The damage is already done. No amount of making things right will do any good for them.

[rainslacker]

People will forget about this in a week or three.

Might come up again in the future, and get rare mentions in general discussion, but ultimately, gamers have the attention span of a goldfish with amnesia.

[zodiac909]

Had he said "Glory to the Chinese Government," would this ban have happened at all?
Gutless pieces of Shit is what Blizzard & Activision are.

[harmny]

Well they said the same thing would've happened. But you won't believe them

[zodiac909]

@harmny

Blizzard USA: "our relationships in China had no influence on our decision"

Blizzard China: "we will defend the pride of China."

Yeah...why would I have ANY reason to doubt what they say....

[CaptainObvious878]

Fk you blizzard. You are dead to me.

[harmny]

Don't worry. They won't read your comment

[harmny]

"I told media that I knew I might have penalty or consequence for my act, because I understand that my act could take the conversation away from the purpose of the event. In the future, I will be more careful on that and express my opinions or show my support to Hong Kong on my personal platforms"

[zodiac909]

@harmny
How much is Blizzard paying you to kiss their ass?

[harmny]

0

[antarius]

So Blizzars supports communist dictatorships? Fucking idiots

[tochi]

Remember. This is the case that American company punished civilian on behalf of the dictatorship authority.

If you fail to understand the magnitude of the event, here familiar Hitler reference would help you.
People who just kept quiet for fear of Nazis are called "passive cooperators"
People who punished citizen on behalf of Nazis are called "active participants"
Both of them are cowered, understandably so. However there is a fine line between people who ignore the killing and who actually pulled trigger for the dictator government. The latter became war criminals.

You should not ignore the fact that Blizzard actively punished "crime" that defined by the Chinese government in order to show their loyalty. It is different from self-censorship. I think Blizzard no longer can speak anything freely without consent of Chinese government.

By the way, do you know many active participants of Nazis made almost identical testimony later?
"My decision was not effected by my relationship with Nazis party."
Really.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Blizzard is so trash.

Commies don't deserve HK.

[sprinterboy]

To late

[Takwin]

It was written by China. A user on Twitter details all the ways that a nonnative speaker uses English in slightly odd ways.

https://twitter.com/sgblueb...

Seriously, read this guy's analysis of it. China wrote the apology. Blizzard is ever more lost to us than we realized. Blizzcon is going to be full or Pooh protests, Chinese flags, and all the forums will be "next question."

[CP_Company]

they did not even bothered to write it down by them self, some chinese dude wrote it for them

[ajax17]

I've never watched Blizzcon before, but I'm definitely going to this year.