At the conclusion of today’s Livestream about the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Shadowlands, Blizzard took an aside to address the current racial injustice that has been going on in America. “Injustice doesn’t cease just because we look away,” the company stated. “Black lives mattered a month ago, black lives matter today. And if that phrase is difficult to hear, know that I and others who speak those words aren’t saying that your life has any less worth, we’re only calling attention to the ways in which our societies seem to need a reminder that black lives matter.”
While the is a sentiment everyone should share, I can’t help but feel the statement is completely hollow in a world where Blitzchung was banned for being a human rights activist. I won’t recap what happened, but Blitzchung is a rather famous Hearthstone player that was banned from competition after speaking words of support in favor of the Hong Kong protests in late 2019.
Blizzard was quick to ban him from competition, strip away his earnings, and bar him from re-entering the competitive Hearthstone scene for a year. While the sentence was reduced to half a year with half of his prize money being returned, it still stands as the company kowtowing to the Chinese government as that is Blizzard’s largest market. It doesn’t matter if Blizzard president J. Allen Brack said, “our relationships in China had no influence on our decision.” It most certainly did.
Again, I’m not upset at the specific words Blizzard said today. Black Lives Matter is an important movement that wants to enact change in this nation that is long overdue. People of every race should be treated as equals, and not looked down upon because of bigoted views. What irks me is that Blizzard has still not answered for what it did to Blitzchung.
A video by YouTube channel People Make Games covered the topic in much greater depth than I’ll ever be able to. In it, you’ll see how Blitzchung faced extreme prejudice from his words and how Blizzard did absolutely nothing to help him get back on his feet. Knowing that, forgive me if I think the company is full of itself with these words.
If all of this were ancient history, maybe I’d be more receptive to what was said today. Until Blizzard actually accounts for its recent despicable actions, I’m A-okay with calling this out for the sham that it is.
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