Gaming giant Blizzard Entertainment just suspended a professional Hearthstone player over his support for the Hong Kong protests, and fans are livid.
The video game developer announced Tuesday it was suspending Chung Ng Wai, known as Blitzchung, from its Asia-Pacific Grandmasters tournament after he voiced support for the pro-democracy Hong Kong protests in a recent post-game interview. The company cited competition rules prohibiting "engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image."
Blitzchung is now banned from participating in Hearthstone e-sports for a year, with Blizzard also rescinding his prize money, Kotaku reports.
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Hearthstone fans, it's safe to say, aren't happy, with the game's subreddit now consisting of thread after thread from users saying they're quitting in protest. "If you're still playing, then you're sending a message: 'I'm ok with this, multinationals should help china get away with violations of human rights,'" one user wrote. A gamer who said they've played Hearthstone since 2014 posted that they've now quit, ripping Blizzard as "embarrassing" and "spineless." Another user commented, "I feel sick for supporting censorship and autocracy."
This outrage extended to other games published by Blizzard, with one user posting on the Overwatch subreddit, "I'm deleting my account with hundreds of hours of Overwatch, Hearthstone, [World of Warcraft], Diablo and StarCraft. I encourage you guys to do the same."
This comes days after the NBA came under fire for distancing itself from the Houston Rockets' general manager after he supported the Hong Kong protests. South Park also found itself banned on the Chinese internet over an episode critical of China, though it's safe to say its creators went in the opposite direction of the NBA and Blizzard. In a fake apology, Trey Parker and Matt Stone sarcastically wrote that like the NBA, "we too love money more than freedom and democracy."
