As protests in Hong Kong continue to escalate, concern about Chinese censorship has now spilled over into the world of Hearthstone, as Blizzard has suspended a competitive player for voicing Hong Kong support in a competition.
Earlier this week, Hong Kong player Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai appeared in a Grandmasters Asia Pacific post-match interview, where he signed off with a bold statement. Wearing a gas mask similar to those worn by protestors (and recently banned in Hong Kong), Blitzchung said: “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age!” The stream quickly cut to an ad break, but the damage was already done, and all three of the streamers have now been punished by Blizzard. Yes, including the two casters who very clearly didn’t want to be involved.
In a post on the Hearthstone website, Blizzard claimed Blitzchung violated section 6.1 of its competition rules, which state that players cannot engage in any act that “brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image”. The punishment for this is removal from Grandmasters and the total loss of the player’s prize money, which is exactly what Blizzard has imposed on Blitzchung.
Source: Eurogamer Blizzard under fire after punishing pro-Hong Kong Hearthstone player