April 25th, 2020 by Kurt "Chet" Christel
I’m aware this news is stale as heck, but that doesn’t mean I can’t share my opinion on it. So, I shall opine away. That’s the word, right? Opine? One sec… okay I checked the dictionary and that is correct.
Basically, in case you didn’t know this, China’s internet is very censorious. It will block anything that is inconvenient to those in power. And Winnie the Pooh apparently. Xi Jinping really hates that guy. In fact, it’s actually common knowledge that if someone from China is in any sort of messaging thread, forum, or chat group; you can get their internet instantly shut off by mentioning:
1989 TIANANMEN SQUARE PROTESTS 天安門大屠殺 JUNE FOURTH INCIDENT 六四事件 DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT 八九民運
Shit, now nobody in China can read this rant. Oh well. China cut off or online multiplayer for some of biggest games because unfortunate information about the CCP keeps popping up and they just can’t have that. Animal Crossing is has already been cut on the chopping block, but they plan on more, they are just getting started. They can still play the multiplayer games sure, they’re just playing only against others in their country. Or so I’m led to believe.
This isn’t even a CHINA BAD article. This is actually a GET F*CKED BLIZZARD article. If you dig back a while, publisher Blizzard bent over backwards to appease China when several incidents occurred that made them look really bad. TenCent, a Chinese entertainment company, owns a sizable chunk of Blizzard. So, whenever it came down to them appeasing the company, they would bend the knee every time.
And that’s the crux of this opinion.
Are you f*cking happy now Blizzard? You have shown numerous times that you are completely out of touch with your fan base and tried to make up for it by announcing a bunch of games people are anticipating. Dropping Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 is not gonna make your many controversies go away.
Now, the country you so desperately tried to pander to is about to hurt your bottom line. I guarantee this will have a negative impact on user activity in your games. Now, I know you won’t really FEEL the difference because you’re a soulless organization who sold off their dignity a long time ago. But deep down, after all the epic screw-ups you committed, your day of reckoning has finally arrived. Okay, yeah that was a week ago. This is your week of reckoning!
I implore Blizzard fans, I know you love their games. Gamer boycotts are virtually useless and lead to nothing. Just pay more attention to what they are doing. You always have to vote with your wallet. Decide if that freaking loot box is worth it, considering all they’ve done. Hold off on your pre-orders until you know the game isn’t broken. Because their new games will ship broken. I guarantee it. They cared too much about China, only for China to turn on a dime and stop caring about Blizzard. Nice one. Come @ me in the comments.
Hate reading? The audio version can be found HERE.
Posted in Articles Tagged with: blizzard, china, diablo, heroes of the storm, internet, multiplayer, online, overwatch, warcraft