Blizzard s Official Chinese Account Vows To Protect The National Dignity Of China

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Blizzard s Official Chinese Account Vows To Protect The National Dignity Of China

Before Blizzard put out its official statement urging fairness and enjoyable esports for everyone, its official Chinese account declared loyalty. Via: loderunner on Github - Flag Waver Blizzard has been facing a heavy stream of criticism after banning Blitzchung from competing in Hearthstone competitions after he voiced his support for the protests in Hong Kong. Many players have , commentator Brian “Kibler” Kibler has announced he will , and Blizzard's own employees have . But despite the vocal outrage, Blizzard has shown little sign of backing down from their choice. Not only have they that showed their solidarity with Hong Kong, but they have also used one of their official social media pages to express support for the Chinese Government. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY On Blizzard's account, the account manager posted a declaration that explained the reasoning behind Blitzchung's ban. In addition to the image, the account stated that Blizzard will "as always, resolutely safeguard national dignity." via:weibo.com The comments responding to this post on the Chinese social media site were almost unanimously in favor of Blizzard's official statement. Some even called for a Blizzard to hand Blitzchung a lifelong ban, and others said they wished the NBA would take the same hard-line stance as Blizzard did in response to the . Meanwhile, in the west, people have continued to Condemn Blizzard's actions. The hashtag #BoycottBlizzard has only grown, and Overwatch's Mei has been, with protesters hoping that this will result in China banning Overwatch in the same way that the country banned Winnie the Pooh. Despite their vocal support for China on Weibo, Blizzard remained silent in western social media. The didn't post anything since October 4, and remained silent since October 1. A similar pattern can be seen on Facebook, with the official pages for both and going completely silent for the same time period. Only on Friday evening did the Blizzard blog , saying "our relationships in China had no influence on our decision." It seems unlikely that Blizzard will reverse its course on its choice to ban pro-Hong Kong language from its tournaments. More likely, they will try to wait this controversy out and hope that players in the west eventually forget about it. Whether this will help or hurt Blizzard in the long run remains to be seen.