Philosophically, I agree with your underlying point. Steve Kerr shouldn't say anything about HK. But the fact that he can't say anything about HK (as morey learned) is also an important piece of information.

Ideally, if a coach/gm slips up and says something he shouldn't, he would get fined/suspended or have to answer some harsh questions in the media. That would be par for the course when you are powerful, millionaire representative of an corporation. And in that process, people would be free to debate the acceptability of what was said.

But with HK, you can't have that open discourse. If you say something wrong, your industry takes a hit to the point that it's existence is threatened.

So... the tariffs are working?

A billionaire said that

https://www.reuters.com/article/hongkong-protests-apple/apple-removes-police-tracking-app-used-in-hong-kong-protests-from-its-app-store-idUSL2N26V00Z

Apple in hot water now too. Though I think this piggy is too big to boycot for the public. Blizzard has received lots of backlash, but I don't think many people are going to give up their Apple hardware any time soon. Blizzard games are like 60 bucks a pop, a new iPhone can be more than a thousand.

Learning new OS too much of a hassle.

Coming back to Blizzard, what an awful timing for them considering Blizzcon timing. There must be legit be panic right now in offices related to PR/Marketing.
Just imagine the guy/team who's job is to showcase Diablo Immortal this year, three weeks from a backlash having to do with bowing down to China for fear of losing the Chinese market trying to get people on board with the phone game that made Blizz fans last year mad.
Who's going to buy and support WC3 reforged? I expect a release date for this. This is one of the easier things to boycott as a lot of people probably still have the old one at home, I know I do. No reason to "double dip" for a company you don't feel aligns with your views.

This was supposed to be a big year after the lackluster last year.

WoW expansion reveal year
Release date for Wc3 Reforged
Release date for Diablo Immortal
Overwatch 2/PvE - Rumours say it's very likely we'll see whatever they've been working on.
Diablo 4 Teaser - It would be a mistake not to do this considering the response they received last year.

they deserve it. cowards. what's their last good original game, WoW in 2004? (Overwatch is fine but not a core of their usual suite of games from the legacy blizzard era)
stock's down over 35% from it's high from about a year ago, even with the WoW Classic release revenue boosts from people resubbing to WoW, one can still see this shit tanking more

I consider Sc2 their last good game. But RTS is niche genre and so my opinion is not the majority even amongst the Blizzard fanbase.
A shame that balance issues and some design decisions in the later part of the Wings of Liberty were not addressed properly and the E-sports scene just bleeded out to MOBAs. The E-sports scene/viewerbase could be so much better for Sc2 although 2018 and 2019 are much better years than the all years after 2013.

HK leader ditches meeting Ted Cruz, says the U.S. senator

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests-cruz/hk-leader-ditches-meeting-ted-cruz-says-the-u-s-senator-idUSKBN1WR0B7





I can see this from both sides of the argument. If I was Carrie Lam, I wouldn't want to be "seen" talking with someone from the US govt. If I was Ted Cruz, I wouldn't want to visit that powder keg of a situation, without making it VERY obvious, where I had gone.

The public has completely misconstrued the narrative of the Blitzchung situation. Blizzard's punishment brought more attention to Blitzchung's statement than any other realistic action they could have taken

If Blizzard had quietly ignored his statement, it would have gotten almost no attention in the west.Even if Blizzard had spent their own media resources coming out in support of the statement (which is completely unrealistic) it still would have been a mere blip compared to what happened by banning him.

If Blitzchung cares so much about HK (which apparently he does and rightfully well should) then he shouldn't regret anything that has happened. The statement, the punishment and the media attention generated by the backlash all contribute to a cause which is more important to him than his Hearthstone earnings.

Blizzard is just a cog in the machine of social progress that turns in whichever direction the people push it. They are a soulless corporate entity who has no choice but to tow the line of their policies which are designed to support the shareholders' interests. None of Blizzard's employees are allowed to speak truth. We shouldn't expect them to.

This post was edited by Kayeto on Oct 12 2019 10:01am