U.S. lawmakers slam game makers for punishing e-sports players who support Hong Kong protests

WASHINGTON:

U.S. video game developer Blizzard Entertainment‘s decision to disqualify e-sports players who publicly supported the Hong Kong protests sparked a backlash as heavyweight U.S. lawmakers slammed the company for cracking down on free speech for commercial gain and to appease the Beijing government.

Blizzard Entertainment held the “Hearthstone” game Asia-Pacific Masters Professional Tournament on October 6. During the post-match interview on the second day, Hong Kong contestant Blitzchung put on a gas mask prepared beforehand and shouted “Recover Hong Kong”, Revolution of the Times”. Blizzard Entertainment then announced that it would disqualify Blitzchung from the competition and cancel his prize money. The company said in a statement, “We respect people’s right to express their thoughts and opinions, but the players who choose to participate in our e-sports competitions and Other participants must abide by the official competition rules”.

Blizzard Entertainment’s behavior quickly aroused strong dissatisfaction. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio criticized Blizzard Entertainment’s behavior in a tweet on October 8 as a typical example of American companies pleasing the Beijing government for commercial interests. “People who don’t live in China must either self-censor or face cancellation and termination,” he said, adding that “China uses market access as leverage to suppress freedom of expression around the world.”

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (Ron Wyden) tweeted on October 9, “Blizzard Entertainment has shown that it is willing to humiliate itself to please the CCP.” “Calls for freedom should not be censored by American companies to make a quick profit,” Wyden said.

The behavior of Blizzard Entertainment also caused dissatisfaction among game fans. Many people called for a boycott of the game products developed by this company. South Koreans criticized Blizzard Entertainment on Twitter for “sacrificing human rights for money.” Former employees of Blizzard Entertainment have also come forward to criticize the company’s inappropriate behavior.

Blizzard Entertainment is affiliated with China’s Tencent and NetEase, and in some cases co-developed “Call of Duty” and “Diablo” with Chinese companies, Bloomberg News said. The most popular video game in the world’s largest video game market.