The Blizzard Backlash

Oh, Blizzard. Bliz. Blizzy, Blizzy, Blizzyyyy. I am 100% certain that EA, Ubisoft and any other scummy video game company is super glad they are not you right now. Heck, I'll bet any game company is glad they are not Blizzard right now because it sucks to be Blizzard despite all the money they've got. When Blizzard banned Hearthstone player Bliztchung from the Grandmasters tourney for shouting "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age!" during a post-game interview, they initiated what could very well be the biggest PR disaster the gaming industry has ever witnessed. Initially, Bliztchung was banned for a year and his prize money that he had already won was rescinded. In the days that have since followed, his ban was shortened to six months and his prize money was given back. Blizzard stated that the actions they took to ban Blitzchung had nothing to do with China, but come on, let's be real here: anyone with half a functioning brain cell knows that Blizzard brought down the ban hammer because they did not want to upset their Chinese overlords. Blizzard can hide behind their vague YouTube-ish rules all they want, but no one is buying it.

So just how badly did Blizzard screw up? When the mainstream media picks up on the story and it spreads around like wildfire, you know you've gone and made quite the oopsie. Oh, but it gets even better. Congress caught wind of this whole fiasco and fired off a letter to Blizzard. This letter was signed by republicans as well as democrats and if either of those two bickering parties can find something to agree on, you should be very, very afraid. My favorite part about the letter? The final two sentences. "You have the opportunity to reverse course. We urge you to take it." That is basically a polite way of saying "Don't make me take off my belt." The letter, clearly written at a time before Blizzard cut Blitzchung's banning and gave him his prize money back, is one of those rare time's I've been very proud of congress.

Blizzard's response to banning Blitzchung has been your typical corporate robot crap but for the most part, they've stuck their heads in the sand over this. Nintendo announced that the Overwatch launch event for the Switch version of the game that was to be held at the Nintendo store in NYC was canceled and by Blizzard, no less. Blizzard can suppress free speech to protect their bottom line but they can't be bothered to announce the cancellation of one of their own events? Wow, classy. Nintendo has done little to promote Overwatch on their US social media pages. The cancelling of the Overwatch event may have had something to do with it but I kinda think Blizzard's terrible decisions are the reason for the Big N's beef with them. The Switch prints money so getting on the bad side of the console manufacture? Just another bad move from Blizzard, something they are excelling at as of late.

I do wonder just how much of an impact the Blizzard backlash will have on the Switch version of Overwatch. Following Blitzhung's ban, there have been numerous walkouts from Blizzard employees and they've banned three more Hearthstone players. I've heard of hardcore World of Warcraft players quitting the game out of disgust for Blizzards latest course of actions and I'm pretty sure boycott Blizzard is a trending hashtag. No doubt Overwatch on Switch is gonna see some sales but had it hit a year or so earlier or before Blizzard's PR nightmare, I can't help but think it would have sold so much more. I don't begrudge anyone that wants to pick the game up, nor any other Blizzard products for that matter. No matter what happens, all eyes are on you, Blizzard, for the wrong reasons and it is entirely your own fault.