THE BLITZCHUNG CONTROVERSY
The layoffs weren’t the only Activision-related controversy this year. Later on in the year, at the Hearthstone Grandmasters event held by Blizzard, e-sports player Blitzchung was banned by Blizzard for using the platform to speak in support of the Hong Kong protests, while his prize money was also cancelled. This kicked off a major controversy, with many alleging that the fact that Chinese technology giant Tencent has a partial stake in Blizzard and that the Chinese market is huge for Blizzard were both factors in their decision to quell any pro-Hong Kong sentiment. Blizzard did eventually reduce the ban and rescinded their decision to cancel Blitzchung’s prize money, while later also issuing a vague apology at BlizzCon- but that apology, too, was met with plenty of backlash.
