More Fallout From The Hong Kong Protests Hitting eSports
from the not-going-away dept
We were just discussing how the NBA and Blizzard each responded to the thin-skinned Chinese government's pressure on each in the wake of statements made supporting the Hong Kong protests that have raged for months now. The Blizzard half of that conversation involved the company yanking prize money and issuing a 1 year ban on a Hearthstone champion going by the handle Blitzchung, who stated support for the protests to sign off of a recent stream -- which, Blizzard claims, violated contest rules. The backlash to Blizzard's decision, was swift and severe. Unlike the NBA, which backtracked on its own appeasing comments to the Chinese government, Blizzard hasn't budged an inch.
The fallout is continuing, if not intensifying. Most recently, famed streamer Brian Kibler quit Hearthstone entirely over Blizzard's decision.
Kibler, 39, is a widely-respected Magic: The Gathering player who, in 2010, was inducted into Magic’s Hall of Fame. Over the last couple years, Kibler amassed a 500,000-person following on Twitch streaming Blizzard’s Hearthstone, which he casts in an official capacity for Blizzard.
“I certainly never expected that my position in the Hearthstone community would lead to me making a statement on sensitive topics regarding international relations,” Kibler wrote today, “but I have always viewed my strange place as a public figure in gaming as an opportunity to try to make the world a better place in whatever way I can, so here we are.”
He went on to state that he refused to smile on camera for a company that was taking such heavy-handed actions against his fellow streamer. It's not that Kibler himself is so big a figure that this will rock the Hearthstone world, though there is some truth to that. It's, frankly, the speed at which this is happening. It seems nearly inevitable that Kibler won't be the last to take such a step, particularly given some of the surrounding backlash Blizzard is receiving both internally and externally to its actions.
Kibler’s statement joins a chorus of backlash against Blizzard’s decision. The Blizzard subreddit shuttered yesterday, full of complaints from players—some of whom pledged to quit the game entirely. At Blizzard’s headquarters, where it proudly displays company values like “lead responsibly” and “learn & grow,” a big piece of paper covered up the values “think globally” and “every voice matters” apparently in protest of Chung’s ban. Also at Blizzard yesterday, some employees staged an “Umbrella Protest” against the ban.
This simply isn't going away. Blizzard needs to say something, if not do something, to quell this ongoing backlash. Thus far, it has essentially chosen to sit back and wait this out. That doesn't appear to be a strategy that is going to work.
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Filed Under: blitzchung, brian kibler, china, esports, free speech, hong kong, protests
Companies: blizzard
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Blizzard sub
Apparently, the sub shutdown was the work of the newest moderator of the sub without discussing it with the rest of the mod team.
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Activision -- lacking action AND vision currently.
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Everyone wants to control their image, spin the narrative.
To make it in China, you have to play by China's rules.
At first it was little things (no skeletons in MTG sets for China as that offends people) & other small concessions.
Then the asks got a little bit bigger, but nothing to far.
Now that you are fully plugged in and wanting the cash the market offers, now you sell your soul to keep getting paid.
In France, someone in government does something dumb & people riot demanding change.
In China, no one gets to complain, no one gets to demand change, & they will not tolerate even a whiff of complaints fearing it will spur political overthrow.
The brands give in b/c well they exist to make money & can't think beyond the next check. Eurovision banned China from airing the show after they edited sections out. There was no fear about loss of the pay day, they were angry that "gay" content (which wasn't that over the top) was censored out. Hell even Russia lets the content air & they are still actively gathering people & killing them for the 'crime' of being gay.
People are far to used to brands standing up for things...
10 million moms (3 wacky chicks & a purse dog) threatened to boycott all sorts of brands for promoting teh gay, most of the brands were worried then realized its better to not give in to a few people demanding to control everything to make themselves happy in denying reality.
They overlook brands doing what they do not what they say...
Hobby Lobby, birth control is evil!! But hey our pension fund is heavily invested in it oh and we fund terrorists to steal artifacts for us. But a whole bunch of moral crusaders still support them.
Perhaps it is time to admit that corporate people aren't real people. They hold no opinions or morals. They want to get paid & the new market paying them matters more than you who paid for their new shiny stadiums. For every person yelling they are leaving Blizz, there is a nation with 10 people for every 1 of us who can replace your revenue stream.
But hey Blizzard shutting down the ability for people to leave & hastily demanding governmental IDs to be allowed to shut your account down is just them hedging their bet that you'll forget you were going to quit if they make it take long enough. Think I am wrong?? Notice beating your wife in the NFL still has a way lesser punishment than failing a test for pot.
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Blizzard also making it difficult to delete accounts
If you go to their page to delete your account it says that they may require a government issue photo ID.
They do require it. They have removed all other ways to communicate with them. You can't even login and submit a support ticket without it. The callback and live chat options are disabled.
I don't know how an ID is going to help verify anything since they don't have full names and email addresses for these accounts (in all cases).
This appears to be a way to try to stop the bleeding for their shareholders' benefit.
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China sure seems to be pissy at the moment, making all kinds of demands as if they have been treated poorly. When are they going to pay us back for all that chemical soaked drywall they dumped on our markets right after that huge hurricane wiped out many homes in FL.
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Re: Blizzard also making it difficult to delete accounts
This is more the case due to fraud then anything. Since deleting your account can not be reversed they want to be absolutely sure the account holder is the one doing it.
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Ah to be a fly on that wall...
I can only imagine how utterly stunned the higher ups have been over this whole thing. 'All we did was give the boot to three people to appease China, what's everyone upset about?!'
In their eagerness to grovel to china and show how much of a 'team player' they are they took what would have been a minor incident with one player and turned it into an international incident.
If only there was a term for something like that...
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Re: Re: Blizzard also making it difficult to delete accounts
There's nothing to verify against other than the fact that I control the email address. They have no information about me.
So an ID is not going to help.
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I for one...
DO NOT welcome our new Chinese overlords.
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"asmaloney" ZOMBIE SEVEN YEAR GAP!
Not the only this week, but the most obvious.
Just as usual, pops from out of the blue into a Timmy piece.
SEVEN YEARS. No hint was gone, no mention of the password reset.
Cannot be explained except as astro-turfing. -i- Go on, TRY to state some other explanation!
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Re: "asmaloney" ZOMBIE SEVEN YEAR GAP!
laughing
Are you talking about my account?
I've been a reader here for a very long time, I just don't comment (here or anywhere really).
This issue pissed me off, so I decided to mention it.
No conspiracy here.
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Retracted
Well, it looks like Blizzard just retracted, and gave the money back.
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Re: Retracted
But for some reason decided a six months suspension was still a good idea for the casters they originally fired, who had nothing to do with the statement.
This a case of "not good enough."
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Another lovely side effect of this: Blizzard found itself in a no-win situation when a second set of Hearthstone players held up a pro-Hong Kong sign on an official Blizzard stream. If the company punished those players, it would make the firestorm worse; if it didn’t punish them, Blizzard would look like hypocrites.
Blizzard chose the second path. For that choice, it got exactly what it deserved: The three players dropped out of the following match and the tournament as a whole. In doing so, the team specifically pointed out the hypocrisy of Blizzard’s decision. Maybe they didn’t intend to do pull off a power move for the ages. But they damn well did it, and Blizzard looks all the worse for it.
And even though Blizzard reduced its penalties for Blitzchung and the commentators (Blitzchung will receive his prize money and everyone’s suspensions will now run six months), I doubt that will stop several protests now planned for BlizzCon.
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Re:
I thought the skeletons thing in MTG was against the law? (As opposed to just being offensive)
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Update: Blizzard has reinstated the prize - "china had no influence"
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/10/blizzard-reinstates-hong-kong-protestors-priz e-says-china-had-no-influence/
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Re:
How else do you expect them to get rid of all the chemical garbage we ship there?
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Re: Re: "asmaloney" ZOMBIE SEVEN YEAR GAP!
"I've been a reader here for a very long time"
Then you should be at least passingly familiar with this moron and his tendency to attack people or invent grand conspiracies when he has nothing to address regarding the actual article. This par for the course.
Always good to have a commenter with something to actually say, though, welcome!
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Re: Re:
I am not fully versed in the law there, IIRC what I heard is it was insulting to ancestors so they made changes. It very well could be illegal.
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Re:
Given the commentators shouldn't even have a suspension, this is a case of "not good enough."
So yes. I hope for continued outrage.
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Re:
china had no influence
don't they understand that saying this simply shows proof of their being disingenuous?
no. no, they don't. they really and truly don't understand.
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Re: Re: Re: "asmaloney" ZOMBIE SEVEN YEAR GAP!
Thanks Paul!
Actually I don't usually read comments on articles either (here or anywhere really) :-)
This person is a great example of why - and I got it on my first try!
There's too much garbage to sort through & I have better things to do - like reading a book, going for a walk, or having coffee with a friend.
Happy Thanksgiving from Canada!
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it is perfectly obvious that that bunch of dingdongs is thoroughly gobsmacked and has no idea what to do. it is also obvious that their braintrust sits around saying things like: that fakey thing didn't work. what fakey thing will?
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The most damning thing is an earlier statement from Blizzards Weibo account, which is basically a direct contradiction of the official English statement they made friday (source: IGN):
“We express our strong indignation [or resentment] and condemnation of the events that occurred in the Hearthstone Asia Pacific competition last weekend and absolutely oppose the dissemination of personal political ideas during any events [or games]. The players involved will be banned, and the commentators involved will be immediately terminated from any official business. Also, we will protect [or safeguard] our national dignity [or honor].”
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There's an analysis of Blizzard's statement at Rock Paper Shotgun that points out some of the inconsistencies and issues with it.
It's very much a non-retraction.
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Re:
For just "being gay" or for actual sexual acts?
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Re: Re:
I doubt any proof is necessary, sorta like calling someone a witch.
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Re: Re: Blizzard also making it difficult to delete accounts
Simply can not pas up the opportunity to gather data, it is imperative.
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Re: Re:
I did not ship anything to China, and yet I have to pay, via insurance premiums, for their greed and our lack of inspection.
I am sick of subsidizing big business, if they can not survive without the taxpayers money then maybe their business model is to blame.
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Re: Ah to be a fly on that wall...
They do this with the thought that it will provide more access to the Chinese market, I imagine. However, I suspect their efforts are wasted while alienating their existing customer base.
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Well, the NBA saw all that delicicious media attention doled out to the NFL and wanted Some O' That.
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Re:
Though your pun is true, that company is not the one feeling the icy chill of the backlash.
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YOU ALL REALIZE THATS THE CHARGE AND CONVICTION
YOU ALL REALIZE THATS THE CHARGE AND CONVICTION AND THAT ITS ALL OVER THE PRISON THIS SICK FUCK WILL LAND IN.
IF I WERE TRUMP ID TELL CHINA HEY WE'LL LOWER TARIFFS 5% IF YOU TAKE ALL THE MURDERERS....
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Re: Re:
really now
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Re: Re: Re:
My mistake... I was confusing it with another company.
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Re: Re: Re:
If you have recycled anything you have probably shipped things to China (someone else shipping it to China on your behalf is basically the same). I don't know if that's what the other guy was referring to.
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Re: Re:
Neither is any better than the other or excusable. That would be like saying "were they killed for being lefthanded or for using their left hand?".
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Re: Re:
It is simple - the leadership are addicted to lying to get their way.
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Speaking of Blizzard, and speaking of hypocrisy:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Blizzard/comments/dgodfz/we_wont_allow_any_talk_of_social_justic e_or/
(locked, because of course)
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Re:
Of all the things they could have said to try to excuse their actions, you'd think someone would have realized that such a blatant lie like that would not be the correct one.
Hell, their own social media post in China made it very clear such a statement is a lie, it's like they are completely unaware that there are such a thing as bi-lingual people and/or translators out there...
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Re:
And no, Blizzard isn't talking about the USA in that statement. And guess what, China: nobody gets away with life without being humiliated or humbled. The difference is how you react to it.
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Re: Re: Re:
Neither is excusable, but one is at least potentially a factually demonstrable issue. I say potentially because it seems very likely to me that any country outlawing gay sex would not be overly concerned with the quality of evidence or due process in general. However, "being gay" is a different kind of claim. It is about something that happens exclusively inside a person's mind, which should never be outlawed or regulated.
Yes, I know about "intent" in the law, but that only applies to an illegal act. One can never (in a civilized jurisdiction) be tried solely for intent, with no accompanying action.
In case it is necessary, I will once again point out that both are abhorrent, I am just pointing out that the two are problematic in different ways.
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Re: Re: Re:
Weird but true, not sure if death resulted but there were many outrageous attempts to change lefties to righties ... hey, wait a sec
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yes, I'm sure that is the case. I have recycled but third party liability is BS.
Anyways, the contaminant in the drywall was not from recycled crap.
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Re: Re: Re:
Or child molester. Accusation is enough.
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"Thin skinned Chinese government"? You mean the brutal communist dictators that imprison political opponents, kill them, and then sell their organs for a profit? Really? Thin skinned?
The NBA Backtracked? Really? The NBA is a slave to Nike, who only cares about how many shoes they will sell to China. Disgusting globalist assholes, Nike, just like that disgusting asshole Kappernick.
Do the Chinese pay you for this shit, or do you hate America and love China because you're just fucking stupid?
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Techdirt criticizes China, and you think that means the site is paid by China? That logic makes no sense. And yes, a government that can’t accept any criticism from anyone — least of all an employee of a foreign corporation — lacks the thick skin you think would come with being “brutal dictators”.
Also, how the hell is Colin Kaepernick a “globalist”? He isn’t Jewish.
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Re:
Sports. Shoes. Anti-American. Pro-Chinese. Kappernick. Sell to China. Betray America. Money from Foreigner Assholes. You. Comprendo?
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Re: Re:
To quote the great Col. Jack O'Neill (that's TWO L's), "Following. Still. You. Not."
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Re: Re:
"Anti-American"
The guy refused to participate in a pointless ritual that's not necessary to his employment as a private citizen, in order to protest what he believes to be a failure in his government with minimal disruption.
That sounds to me to be a lot more in line with American values than mindlessly following orders and refusing to exercise freedom of speech in fear of retaliation.
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Really can’t stress that enough; other than a game/competition between international teams/competitors, possibly on foreign soil, no U.S. sporting event requires the national anthem be played before it. If anything, the anthem being played before a sporting event between two American teams/competitors comes off more as forced patriotism — that is, anyone who doesn’t stand or take their hat off or whatever isn’t sufficiently “patriotic”.
But as you pointed out, Kaepernick demonstrated true patriotism by using his freedoms to protest against police brutality, even knowing that it could cost him dearly. Patriotism isn’t “my country, right or wrong” — it’s “if right, to be kept right; if wrong, to be set right”.
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
Ummmm - sorry, not the same.
In real life ... there are no witches.
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Re: Re:
"Sports. Shoes. Anti-American. Pro-Chinese. Kappernick. Sell to China. Betray America. Money from Foreigner Assholes"
BINGO!!!!!
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
In real life not everyone accused of being a child molester is one.
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Re: Re: Re:
As Pen Gillette said, "asking gays to refrain from gay sex is like asking birds not to fly."
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
as if that was claimed ... somewhere
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Your education is seriously lacking. The USA has the worlds biggest population of witches.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
As if someone, somewhere, was proffering examples of "no proof necessary" accusations.
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
Ain't gonna happen. Get used to it.
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My reaction to this was to uninstall all my Blizzard games. Not a big loss though, I occasionally play Hearthstone and that is all. I am active in Destiny 2, but thankfully they moved to Steam. Not that my action will mean much, but maybe Blizzard will see an downward trend in their user base.
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One pebble is insignificant. Ten or a hundred thousand though...
Not that my action will mean much, but maybe Blizzard will see an downward trend in their user base.
On an individual basis boycotting/quitting isn't likely to impact the company pretty much at all, true, but boycotts are made up of many individuals who are willing to take those steps, so looked at through that lens it's still a good and effective choice as many cases of 'not going to do much' can all-too-quickly add up to 'more effective than you might think'.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Wings can be clipped. Just sayin'.
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https://boingboing.net/2019/10/08/ddos-gdpr.html
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Re:
A comment mentioning what you're linking to would be a good idea. Also, there's a submit story button where that link might be better sent.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Last I knew Wiccan was officially recgonized by the US Military and the US prison system. Is that not 'witchy' enough for you?
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Re: Re: Re:
They are used to watching the country leadership outright lie and get away with it.
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Re:
" Kaepernick demonstrated true patriotism"
Kaepernick took advantage of a wold stage that his job happened to give him to make a political statement while at work that got him fired. There were plenty of other ways for him to make the same statement without creating the shit storm he created. He made the bed he laid in.
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Re: Re:
"There were plenty of other ways for him to make the same statement without creating the shit storm he created"
The man made a silent, non-violent protest without disrupting a moment of the unnecessary ritual he was refusing to participate in... but right-wing morons lost their collective shit. How could he have possibly protested without the same reaction?
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Re: One pebble is insignificant. Ten or a hundred thousand thoug
A Bug's Life demonstrates this point quite well. Remember Hopper and his cronies at their cantina? "We don't need to go back. What's one little ant?"
An avalanche of seeds, aka the whole colony, then buries the complainers.
Group action is effective. If you're not going to participate, that's fine - but please don't try to bring everybody else down with you.
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Re: Re:
"Kaepernick took advantage of a wold stage that his job happened to give him to make a political statement while at work that got him fired."
"There were plenty of other ways for him to make the same statement without creating the shit storm he created. "
"He made the bed he laid in."
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Re: Re:
What would be the point of protesting if it didn't create a controversy?
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Re: Re: Re:
Well, possibly none, but it's hard to argue that the controversy created way, way, beyond what was called for by the action itself. It's also hard to argue that there's anything he could have done without causing controversy, given the reaction to such a minimal gesture.
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
Not really since the two merged.
Mind it is the Activision executives who made the call, just like they did on the downsizing while putting millions into executives bonuses a little while back.
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Re: Re:
MTG is a Wizards of the Coast aka Hasbro property. Their cards are rationalized for both language and artwork since the beginning and has not stopped the fan-base wanting cards from other regions.
Activision-Blizzard's property World of Warcraft aka WoW is where they regionalized the character models for their rotting undead corpse race aka The Forsaken by showing less bone and more gore.
I know that those outside the fandom have a hard time knowing who is who but please keep your evil corporate empires straight. ;)
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Re: Re: Ah to be a fly on that wall...
But that is the thing with the Executives there. They are all about the new money and don't give half a farthing for what their client base wants or thinks.
Sadly the original people who made the Blizzard what it was are no longer there and what is there now is the same infestation affecting nearly all large corporate organizations. Their clients of import are the executives closely followed by the investors. The actual customers who give them money for products or services are just an exploitable commodity.
As for China as a market, I am not sure what any executive types are thinking since, as far as I know and I could be very wrong on this, China does not allow Capital to flow out of the country, only goods.
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
You would think so if you didn't know their history.
Sadly their ability to lie in the face of all facts and evidence to the contrary predates the most recent iteration of executive truth laundering in government.
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Re: Re: Re: Ah to be a fly on that wall...
I don't think anyone would be interested in doing business in China if they could never get any of the money out.
"There are several ways to repatriate profits from China."
https://www.china-briefing.com/news/profit-repatriation-from-china/
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Have you seen them fly on their brooms?
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Re: Re:
Ah, the old "proper channels" and "chain of command" chestnut. Because that's always how changes get made, airing your views to disagreeable authorities and politely ask them for permission to have conformist re-education shoved up your dissenting ass...
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