In its opening address to BlizzCon attendees on Friday, Blizzard finally gave an apology (of sorts) for its handling of the Hong Kong Hearthstone player controversy – but despite pledging to back up its words with actions, many fans expressed disappointment the company hadn’t explained exactly what these would be. In particular, there was no word on whether pro-Hong Kong Hearthstone player Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai’s suspension would be further reduced or repealed, or whether the two Taiwanese casters would have their own six-month bans overturned.
Now, thanks to an interview with PC Gamer, we know the answer to that question: no.
“We want the official broadcasts, which are a small percentage of the overall content that gets created, to be about the games”, Blizzard president J. Allen Brack reasoned. “And we want those to be focused on the games.
“Again, it’s not about the content of Blitzchung’s message. It’s about the fact that it was not around the games. If we hadn’t taken action, if we hadn’t done something, you can imagine the trail that would be in our future around doing interviews. They would become times for people to make a statement about whatever they wanted to, on whatever issue. That’s just a path that we don’t want to go down.”