Denmark
Damage Control & Hypocrisy Exposed
Blizzard: Every voice matters as long as you don't anger the Dragon Emperor!
Big News Story Today - Blizzard damage control
American University HS team received a six month ban from competition due to last week's "event" instead of no punishment:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/dil847/american_university_hs_team_received_a_six_month/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Blizzard/comments/dilbga/american_university_hs_team_received_a_six_month/
Happy to announce the AU Hearthstone team received a six month ban from competition. While delayed I appreciate all players being treated equally and no one being above the rules:
https://twitter.com/Xcelsior_hs/status/1184333609370619905
Esports Talk | Blizzard Issues Longest Ban EVER in Collegiate Esports to 3 Kids:
TheQuartering | Blizzard BANNED Them! Absolutely HILARIOUS! American Hearthstone Players Punished:
ReviewTechUSA | BLIZZARD DOES IT AGAIN! They Suspend ANOTHER Hearthstone Team!:
More YouTubers will likely cover this news story and I'll update accordingly.
Many players and YouTubers have criticized Blizzard for inconsistency and esport players not treated equally as no one being above the rules.
So finally Blizzard did the right thing with "impartial" enforcement but they continue to lie about China's growing influence and self-censorship within the company.
For good confirmation of China's growing influence go check Blizzard's Chinese social media account, Blizzard employees covers signs in protest, ex-Blizzard Mark Kern and Kibler's public statement as top Hearthstone caster.
There is also confirmation from a semi-anonymous interview with an oldschool Blizzard artist.
That is a current employee working there for more than 20+ years.
All Hail the Dragon Emperor!
Blizzard leadership is still making bad optics/PR.
This is the biggest international shitstorm since Star Wars Battlefront 2.
Is China's conglomerate bulldozing things with money? Blizzard hypocrisy exposed? Blizzard make Blitzchung into a martyr? Does capitalism come full circle? Buying cheap products from China is backfiring? This shitstorm has it all and more.
More Background Info
Blizzard employees covers signs in protest: https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/df4q51/blizzard_employees_covers_signs_in_protest/
Brian Kibler steps down from casting BlizzCon amid Blizzard's blitzchung handling:
Will not be casting the Hearthstone Grandmasters finals at BlizzCon
https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/9270/brian-kibler-steps-down-from-casting-blizzcon-amid-blizzards-blitzchung-handling
NPR Interview with Brian Kibler about Blizzard controversy (include Transcript):
https://twitter.com/bmkibler/status/1182815861842726912
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/11/769193142/international-politics-barges-into-the-world-of-video-games
*SNIP*
BRIAN KIBLER: Players who have gotten caught cheating in tournaments have received much smaller penalties that have come much later. And this was, you know, instantly.
KIBLER: China's a huge market for them. It makes up a enormous amount of their overall business. And I imagine it could have been very legitimately, like, at risk if they, you know, hadn't done something about this.
LIMBONG: It's not just a matter of potentially offending the Chinese government and the mainland audience. It's also about a huge Chinese holding company named Tencent. Tencent has a financial stake in a lot of gaming companies, including a share of Activision Blizzard and also Ubisoft, Epic Games - it owns all of Riot Games, which makes the popular League of Legends. Activision Blizzard and Tencent didn't get back to us for this story. Brian Kibler said that, sure, it could be a defensible business position to punish Blitzchung.
KIBLER: That doesn't mean that morally that this is the right stance to take, by any means.
LIMBONG: And a loud portion of the gaming world seems to agree. There's been a furious online response, with subscriptions being cancelled and boycott campaigns being launched against Activision Blizzard - all this right before the company's big convention called BlizzCon later this fall.
AU player here. We aren't being punished for the "Free Hong Kong" sign, and why that matters:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/dg7d9m/au_player_here_we_arent_being_punished_for_the/
https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/dg5pnt/blizzardtespa_has_decided_not_to_penalize/
https://twitter.com/Slasher/status/1182409678371934212
The Blizzard Interview:
Yesterday there was a semi-anonymous interview with an oldschool Blizzard artist.
20+ years with the company and claim he is one of the oldest Blizzard left..The interviewer (veemonro) vetted him and ex-Blizzard game designer Mark Kern know him.. Hopefully, he doesn’t get into big trouble as the interview was good.
The full interview has been removed from Youtube (I listen to most of it), Veemonro made a short summary:
Veemonro discord:
https://discordapp.com/channels/566277659135442955/566283340714606602
If anyone sees the full interview re-uploaded please let me know and/or download it.
A short clip from Blizzard interview re-uploaded:
Real-Time Likes Shadowbanning on Vee's Youtube (allegedly):
https://twitter.com/not__vee/status/1184025815639564289
This Blizzard employee agrees with the public suspicion that the recent Blizzard PR statement was partly written by Chinese writers. Also spotted by Mark Kern.
Blizzard President’s Apology Was Written By A Chinese Person, Say Bilingual Chinese-English Speakers:
https://appuals.com/blizzard-presidents-apology-was-written-by-a-chinese-person-say-bilingual-chinese-english-speakers/
However, some users fluent in both Chinese and English claim that the apology was written by a Chinese speaker, not Blizzard president J. Allen Brack.
https://twitter.com/sgbluebell/status/1182817588147052544
ex-Blizzard Mark Kern:
An analysis of the @Blizzard_Ent letter about @blitzchungHS and the #FreeHongKong incident.
I apply everything I know from having been in the leadership team at Blizzard, my legal background, my decades of game industry experience, and my work with Chinese companies.
https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/1183215204525412352
Blizzard's Weibo Account Isn't Helping:
Blizzard's Chinese social media account is taking a tougher stance.
https://nordic.ign.com/hearthstone-heroes-of-warcraft/30051/news/blizzards-weibo-account-isnt-helping
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2019/10/11/activision-blizzard-is-completely-silent-and-barreling-toward-an-awkward-blizzcon/
*SNIP*
Blizzard has exemplified the Streisand Effect here. It is exceedingly likely that no one would have even batted an eye over Blitzchung’s statement if Blizzard simply let him collect his winnings and keep playing. But its reaction has created an entirely new Western pro-Hong Kong, anti-Blizzard, anti-China movement among the gaming community that spreads Blitzchung’s message far, far past its initial reach, and now Blizzard finds itself in a can’t-win situation where they risk upsetting China (which they were trying to avoid in the first place), or they lose the faith and trust of their Western audience (which may have already happened for many).
It’s going to be one hell of a BlizzCon.
Update: Blizzard has now issued a...rather odd statement about the whole incident, which you can read here.
Blizzard’s ‘Hearthstone’ Ruling Non-Apology Raises A Lot More Questions Than It Answers:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2019/10/12/blizzards-hearthstone-ruling-non-apology-raises-a-lot-more-questions-than-it-answers
Late yesterday, Blizzard issued a statement that I can’t describe as anything but bizarre, something that feels like it was crafted by a dozen different PR people and lawyers to say a whole lot of words without really answering any of the core questions this incident raises.
Blizzard has now woven a web of contradictions so complex there is no possible way to untangle it. To commit to China is to spark further controversy, to deny china, is to sever a cash pipeline so large it would mean a radical change in their business model and existing plans...
Sometimes when you aggressively flirt with the line of ultimate disaster... you go just a shade too far and cant come back.
PCgamer | Every game company that Tencent has invested in:
A quick reference of how China's largest tech conglomerate has quietly expanded into videogames.
https://www.pcgamer.com/every-game-company-that-tencent-has-invested-in/
Tencent's $330 million investment in Epic Games back in June 2012 triggered one of the most dramatic shifts in PC gaming of the last decade, ushering in a new era of free-to-play games as a service. Seeing that "the old model" of selling games wasn't working, Epic founder Tim Sweeney decided to join forces with Tencent to better learn about operating live-service games. It paid off.
From Chinese Tencent, China’s Latest Online Viral Game Makes You Clap for Xi Jinping Smart propaganda – now clapping for Xi Jinping has become a competition, October 18, 2017 (old news but relevant):
https://www.whatsonweibo.com/chinas-latest-online-viral-game-makes-clap-xi-jinping/
With the introduction of a new game by Tencent, people can now also clap along to Xi Jinping’s speech from their own living room. The game became an online hit on October 18. It was already played over 400 million times by 9 pm Beijing time.
Clap for Xi mobile game from Tencent goes Viral:
Former Blizzard lead, Mark Kern warns about China's growing influence within entertainment/media industry:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1181736075775004672.html
https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/1181736075775004672
*SNIP*
Chinese game companies have grown huge not just because of market size, but because the government subsidizes them. They get free land, free offices, and huge infusions of cash.
This cash was and is used to do expand and buy up stakes in US gaming companies.
I’ve seen firsthand the corruption of Chinese gaming companies, and I was removed from a company I founded (after Blizzard) for refusing to take a 2 million dollar kickback bribe to take an investment from China. This is the first time I’ve ever spoken pubically about it.
I’ve also seen how American company reps in China have been offered similar bribes to get licenses for large AAA titles. Not everyone refused like I did.
Chinese companies tried to ruin my career with planted press stories. Money is often paid for favorable press in China and some of that money flows here to the US as well.
Unfortunately, money talks. China has succeeded in infiltrating all levels of tech, gaming and more.
Unfortunately, US and European companies are loath to take risks and invest in game companies legally as much as China was. China remained one of the few places mid tier studios could get funding.
So again, China influence grew. I’m sure this is the same for movies as well.
But now we are in a situation where unlimited Communist money dictates our American values. We censor our games for China, we censor our movies for China. *SNIP*
Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/dfslaf/world_of_warcraft_vanilla_team_lead_mark_kern/
Good analysis by Drift0r & Inside Gaming. Explain the complex situation for western game companies that do business in China.
Drift0r | Chinese Censorship of US Media Explained (Blizzard, NBA, & South Park):
Inside Gaming | How Chinese Censorship is Changing Gaming - Inside Gaming Feature:
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