Home Gaming Blizzard officially bans the American Hearthstone Collegiate team that held up “Free Hong Kong” sign

Blizzard officially bans the American Hearthstone Collegiate team that held up “Free Hong Kong” sign

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Back into the fray we go with the latest updates on Blizzard and its attempt at damage control following the now notorious banning of professional Hearthstone player Blitzchung for his statement of “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age” on an official tournament stream.

While Blitzchung was certainly the player that took the most flak from Blizzard’s ban hammer, he wasn’t the only person to use their platform to make a political statement. Just a few hours after the announcement that Blitzchung would be banned for a year and stripped of his prize money, an American collegiate team playing in an official Hearthstone tournament held up a sign during the stream of their match that read “Free Hong Kong, Boycott Blizzard”. Besides the camera cutting away very quickly and the rest of the tournament being streamed without face-cams, that was the end of it with Blizzard not saying anything about the incident.

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As of last night though, Blizzard has decided they actually do care about what the collegiate team said during the stream and have officially banned the team from competing in Hearthstone tournaments for the next six months, effectively the same punishment received  by Blitzchung after Blizzard revoked their previous ban of a year and returned his prize money. Despite being banned for their sign, I doubt the AU collegiate team are going to lose any sleep over it, given that they have already withdrawn from all upcoming Hearthstone tournaments in protests for what they see as Blizzard’s arbitrary enforcement of rules.

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Casey “Xcelsior” Chambers wrote on Twitter that the team were expecting repercussions for their actions and had no regrets. “Nah bro. This one was pretty cut and dry. We knew what we were doing and expected the punishment. The problem was Blizzard ignoring our protest for PR reasons but going after Blitzchung”, tweeted Chambers.

Many have come out in praise of the collegiate team for protesting Blizzard’s harsh punishment of Blitzchung which has seen the company caught up in a PR nightmare. Earlier this week, Nintendo announced that Blizzard had formally cancelled the launch event of Overwatch on Switch, perhaps due to the threat of protests, and just a cursory glance at the assortment of Blizzard’s subreddits paints a grim picture of what the company can expect at their annual convention Blizzcon in just a couple of weeks.

Last Updated: October 17, 2019

16 Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    October 17, 2019 at 14:59

  2. Yozzie

    October 17, 2019 at 14:37

    I wonder if we are going to see the crowd allowed to do the Q and A panels this year at Blizzcon. I for one hope everyone wears a red shirt.

    Reply

    • Guz

      October 17, 2019 at 17:23

      50 bucks says that it’s gonna be a rent a crowd and they wont do Q&A but do the presentations, get a round of applause and leave it at that, honestly It’s their best bet at this point

      Reply

    • BradeLunner

      October 17, 2019 at 14:37

      Oohhh fun! Will it be streamed online? Certainly will be more entertaining than storm area 51

      Reply

      • Yozzie

        October 17, 2019 at 14:59

        Unfortunately blizz monetizes everything so you can only watch the stream if you buy a digital Blizzcon ticket.

        Reply

  3. Scott Lee Clayton

    October 17, 2019 at 15:11

    Good, does everything have to be politicised now?, this isn’t about their cause it about Blizzard not wanting to turn their steams into a platform for political views. Dont we get enough, Trump, Brexit, protests everywhere in the media?, cant there be places that are free from this constant shit!

    Reply

    • HvR

      October 17, 2019 at 18:35

      I had to the same opinion at first.

      But as few people pointed out Blizzard has been all too happy to push political agendas on their own platforms when suits them.

      Reply

      • Scott Lee Clayton

        October 17, 2019 at 18:35

        Such as?

        Reply

        • HvR

          October 17, 2019 at 18:38

          When LBGTQI rights was on the forefront especially in gaming they used it extensively in marketing Overwatch.

          Reply

          • Scott Lee Clayton

            October 17, 2019 at 22:10

            Not really political is it?

          • HairyEwok

            October 18, 2019 at 13:32

            Pretty much turns policital when you have parties going for it and against it.

          • Scott Lee Clayton

            October 18, 2019 at 13:32

            That’s outside of Blizzards control..

  4. HvR

    October 17, 2019 at 20:21

    Think at this stage Blizzard hopes a new story breaks that EA is using underaged caged Indonesian children to handle their customer support.

    Reply

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