Presentation
A Hearthstone esports player has been suspended by Blizzard, the game’s publisher, after expressing support for Hong Kong in a post-match interview.
At a time when all players in the video game industry, especially publishers, are investing in the organization of esports competitions, the Chinese market, with its more than 300 million players, is currently at the heart of trade tensions related to published content that could be considered denigrating the Chinese government.
Following the announcement by a video game publisher that it was suspending a professional Hearthstone player for supporting Hong Kong against the Chinese regime, Blizzard explained the reasons for its sanction, basing its decision on a rule prohibiting players from harming its reputation, offending a segment or group of the public, and/or negatively affecting Blizzard’s image.
The game’s publisher—5% owned by the Chinese group Tencent, which also owns Riot Games, 48% Epic Games, 11% Bluehole, 84% Supercell, and 5% Ubisoft—decided to exclude the player from competition, strip him of all his season’s winnings, and suspend him from tournaments for a full year. Similar sanctions were imposed on the two commentators associated with the player’s statement.
Blizzard & Esports: Sanctions from the video game player community
This decision sparked widespread protests from the gaming community, with many calling for a boycott of the publisher or showing support for pro-Hong Kong demonstrators at the publisher’s annual convention on November 1st and 2nd. Blizzard has acknowledged the beginning of a boycott of its products through the deletion of numerous Battle.net accounts. Technical difficulties in doing so have led to complaints being filed with the CNIL (French Data Protection Authority) and the cancellation of pre-orders that were circulating online.
Several US senators have denounced the publisher’s scandalous behavior, accusing them of being “willing to humiliate themselves to appease the Chinese Communist Party.”
Reacting to the situation, the president of Blizzard issued a statement returning the prize money to the esports player and reducing his ban to six months, ruling out any Chinese control or censorship on the matter. Several video game publishers, also owned by the Chinese group, such as Riot Games and Epic Games, quickly communicated their independence while encouraging players, streamers, and broadcasters to refrain from commenting on or discussing sensitive topics.
Blizzard’s position, as the publisher of these video game competitions, has reignited the debate surrounding the questionable powers of video game publishers to sanction players and competitors.
Sports, Esports & Entertainment: China’s Financial Investments
This case echoes a recent example in the NBA world where Darly Morey, general manager of the Rockets, tweeted his condemnation of Chinese influence in Hong Kong. This statement prompted a series of apologies from NBA and Rockets officials, concerned about the loss of their Chinese sponsors and the suspension of broadcasts of the franchise’s games.
More generally, Chinese vetoes on a number of American products have been a major news story in recent months – global companies interested in the Chinese market preferring to protect their investments rather than engage in a political and economic battle. Apple, Google,
We can also recall a recent event related to the airing of the latest episode of the series South Park, which openly mocked Hollywood’s tendency to manipulate its content to avoid upsetting the authorities in Beijing. In response, the Chinese government has just banned the broadcast and all online excerpts.
