Current Events > Handful of Blizzard employees walked out in support of Hong Kong and Blitzchung

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https://www.pcgamer.com/au/blizzard-employees-staged-a-walkout-over-hearthstone-grandmasters-suspension/

Blizzard's harsh punishment of former Hearthstone Grandmaster Chung 'blitzchung' Ng Wai over his call for the liberation of Hong Kong caused a powerful backlash against the company. According to a Daily Beast report, some of that reaction has come from within the company itself, as a small number of employees walked out of work yesterday afternoon to protest its actions.

One employee who took part in the walkout said participation fluctuated between a dozen and 30 people over the course of the day, which represents a tiny fragment of the company's total workforce. But the employees gathered at Blizzard's famed Orc statue, a highly symbolic locationOverwatch director Jeff Kaplan said earlier this year that Blizzard personnel do a champagne toast in front of the statue whenever a game shipsthat's within view of the executive offices.

"The action Blizzard took against the player was pretty appalling but not surprising," an employee told the site. "Blizzard makes a lot of money in China, but now the company is in this awkward position where we cant abide by our values."

A purported photo of the walkout was posted to the Hearthstone subreddit yesterday by someone claiming to be a Blizzard employee. It's not confirmed that the image actually comes from the walkout, but it certainly looks the part: Roughly 20 people are visible around the statue, several of them holding umbrellas, a highly visible symbol of the Hong Kong protests.

The walkout isn't the only way that Blizzard employees have used the Orc statue to express their displeasure with the company's "appeasement," as Hearthstone personality Brian Kibler put it earlier today, of Chinese authorities. Yesterday, employees covered up inscriptions on the statue saying "Think Globally" and "Every Voice Matters."

I think that there are some very good people working at Blizzard, but their deal with Activision and Tencent has led to a point where they basically have to get fucked in the ass over shit like this. Activision Blizzard wants to keep making money in China, so they have to put their worst foot forward and suck China's cock during a period where their country is trying to exert control over a territory they had next to no authority in.

Blizzard has had its hiccups, but it has a strong history of being benevolent towards its fans, of being the player's choice for a good many people. This reputation has been damaged by titles like Diablo 3 in the past, but that doesn't change the fact that they were adored once upon a time.

But then again, look at Bethesda. Look at Valve. Hell, look at Epic Games. Expansion has only ever hurt this industry, to the point that it's a handful of mega-corporations running most of the gaming scene nowadays. Blizzard's merging with Activision in 2013 put them on this road, and I feel bad for the people who went to work there expecting it to be one of the great cornerstones of American game development. Despite their own values, and what they see as the values that Blizzard has championed in the past, they're all complicit in China's war against Hong Kong. And that really fucking sucks.
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Valve sucks because they won't release HL3, that's all.
Bethesda sucks because they put out buggy as fuck games, steal mod content and charge you for it.
Epic sucks because it's more like that shitty corner store that thinks they can compete with the big kids.

Blizzard sucks because they took a stance that sides with human rights abuse,
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RdVEHfJqAvUPIbk posted...

Valve sucks because they won't release HL3, that's all.
Bethesda sucks because they put out buggy as fuck games, steal mod content and charge you for it.
Epic sucks because it's more like that shitty corner store that thinks they can compete with the big kids.

Blizzard sucks because they took a stance that sides with human rights abuse,

The reason I brought up Epic Games in particular is because they went from developing games and licensing their own game engine to giving 48.4% of their stocks to Tencent ltd and developing an online game storefront to rival Steam. Taking people's personal information when you're that close to China's influence just doesn't sit right with me, and it's a far cry from when they were actively developing game series that people loved.

I actually think that the Epic Games Store is a good idea, especially giving developers a bigger cut of each sale, but by working that closely with Tencent it feels like the information (and money) they receive through the Epic Games Store can end up in the hands of China.

Activision Blizzard are only 5% owned by Tencent, and look how hard they ass-blasted this guy. I wouldn't trust a company like Epic Games when it's almost jointly owned by a company that gives its information to the Chinese government. This time it's Blizzard, but a company that's 48.4% owned by Tencent is a company that's worth keeping an eye on IMO.

I still think it's dumb that Valve stopped making games and decided to get fat off if other people's video games. And Bethesda's move towards shit like Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls: Blades - i.e. microtransactions and cheap, shitty games that barely work, even moreso than the usual hate brigade tend to whine about - is especially demoralising.

These are still issues. Activision Blizzard deserve to be condemned for this action, but that doesn't change just how much these other companies have changed for the worse over the years.
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Epic store aside, ceo man said he'll let them side with HK in their streams if they want.
I think at this stage Blizzard is too deep in being China's personal bitch, not even counting the blindeye they turn to farming their games as a source of income, even if China had no money directly invested, Blizzard still would do whatever to appease them
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