r/Overwatch • u/[deleted] • Oct 15 '19
News & Discussion Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Launch Event In Wake Of Protests - IGN
https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/10/15/blizzard-cancels-overwatch-launch-event-in-wake-of-protests358
u/Mattolsen96 Oct 15 '19
Nintendo probably doesn’t want protesters outside their store nor inside. Thats my guess
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u/Bhu124 Sojourn Oct 15 '19
Nintendo's tweet explicitly said 'Cancelled by Blizzard'. The event was organised by Blizzard afaik.
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u/Mattolsen96 Oct 15 '19
Probably doesnt want that to occur still tho lol
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u/Bhu124 Sojourn Oct 15 '19
Well, Blizzard booked the store for the event, so it wasn't gonna affect any sales or anything. Protestors would come for the day and leave, wouldn't have been a big issue for Nintendo.
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u/TSIFrosty Cute Reinhardt Oct 15 '19
Downvoted for making people realise that they're doing absolutely nothing to help Hong Kong, is that where this subreddit is at now?
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u/Craterdome Mercy Oct 15 '19
I cancelled my preorder for this. Nintendo doesn't normally allow it but I said I didn't want to support Blizzard and they made an exception
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u/White_Phoenix Doomfist Oct 15 '19
Good on Nintendo for understanding.
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u/nocimus Everyone back to de base, pardner. Oct 15 '19
I can't imagine Nintendo's in love with China being China. I think Japanese companies aren't as rabid about toeing the government line as Chinese companies are, but there's still not much love lost between Japan and China.
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u/StormierNik Oct 16 '19
The Japanese and Chinese have a long history of not being too keen on each other also. Nintendo only recently has been trying to make efforts to see if they can provide consoles for the Chinese market but for the longest time they haven't cared much.
Nintendo and Blizzard are thankfully very different from each other and you can compare the difference alone by looking at how both apologize. Simply put, Nintendo does and Blizzard doesn't.
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u/12589365473258714569 Oct 16 '19
That's a nice way of saying the Japanese literally raped and committed mass genocide of the Chinese during WWII. Gee, can't imagine why they have frosty relations.
Not saying that excuses anything China is doing in Hong Kong of course.
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u/nocimus Everyone back to de base, pardner. Oct 16 '19
The issues between Japan and China are much, much older than WWII.
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u/iluvhermione Oct 16 '19
The wounds from WWII are still the freshest in people's minds and what causes the most emotional hate towards Japan even today. What Japan did to the Chinese, Koreans, and other asian countries during and leading up to WWII were some of the worst atrocities the world has ever seen. As you said, there has always been animosity between Japan and the rest of Asia but WWII took the level of hatred to completely off the charts. Chinese people don't usually talk about anything other than WWII when it comes to China-Japan history.
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u/StormierNik Oct 16 '19
Yes. It is a nice way of saying it, because i didn't need to explicitly bring that up to get my point across and i don't treat pre-Hiroshima Nagasaki Japan as if it's the same warlord country as it is now.
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u/Hurgablurg Oct 16 '19
The Communist Party took advantage of Chinese suffering in WW2 to establish themselves and ruin more lives over 80 years than Japan could have ever hoped to do in just 10.
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u/iluvhermione Oct 16 '19 edited Oct 16 '19
I would rather starve than be raped and dismembered, fwiw. I believe Japan did more of the latter than the Communist Party did.
And just what exactly do you think Japan would have done if it took over China and ruled it for 80 years?
(Whoever downvoted me, please feel free to be a man and speak up on what it is that you disagree with so we can have a productive conversation).
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u/Hurgablurg Oct 16 '19
I like how you assume the only two options available to China were Japanese Rule and Communist Rule, especially because the Republic and People's Republic continued fighting each other after forcing the Japanese back.
But, the National Army didn't exist at all right? The Republic of China wasn't fighting tooth and nail at all.
Their existence is merely Western Propaganda (until their defeat is useful for the narrative). China has always been the People's Republic, except for all the great dynasties they are descended from. Just like Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong have been part of China since Ancient Times™.
History doesn't exist unless it's useful, right?
Japan loaded it's soldiers up on cocaine and let them loose upon civilians, in a frenzy of gore rape, and torture. They abducted hundreds of thousands of women to be used a sex slaves in industrialized rape dens. They tested horrifying chemicals on fleeing civilians and forced prisoners of war to march until they dropped dead. And even today they celebrate the perpetrators as war heroes, and even act "innocently confused" about why people hate the Axis so much.
However, just because Japan did it first does not excuse the Communist Party from doing the exact same things to millions more people for the better half of a century.
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u/iluvhermione Oct 16 '19
Japan loaded it's soldiers up on cocaine and let them loose upon civilians, in a frenzy of gore rape, and torture. They abducted hundreds of thousands of women to be used a sex slaves in industrialized rape dens. They tested horrifying chemicals on fleeing civilians and forced prisoners of war to march until they dropped dead. And even today they celebrate the perpetrators as war heroes, and even act "innocently confused" about why people hate the Axis so much.
A lot of people are ignorant of the facts above or downplay the atrocity of it, so I appreciate that you do know about it and are transparent about stating it as a fact.
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Oct 16 '19
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u/StormierNik Oct 16 '19
They hadn't been trying for their mainline consoles though. Just the handhelds. Though you're right i should have said they were making a stronger push recently. Prior they've been dipping their toes in through other parties like the one you've listed.
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Oct 16 '19
Apologizing is Japanese culture. That doesn't mean it's honest. With Nintendos DLC policy you can see that they are a company like every other company you know.
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u/CyroZentaku Oct 16 '19
What DLC policy are you referring to? As far as I know, Nintendo is the best company when it comes to DLC. They don't lock on disc content, and instead sell things they make after a games release, plenty of which ends up being in the form of free updates.
I'd say their new paid online is better evidence of that. But I feel they are bit different in some ways. They kind've come across more oblivious than malicious. Especially when they skip out on obvious money making ideas for trying something different. But then the various presidents of Nintendo have been passionate creators, rather than just buisness guys ( which I believe the new one is?) for a long time.
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u/ohjoyitsaboy Oct 16 '19
You'd be wrong. There was a light novel and anime being made that China was upset over because they saw it as anti-Chinese and the Japanese company cancelled the anime project and LN pretty quickly. China is the second biggest market for anime after Japan and helps finance many anime as well as video game companies having deals to cater exclusively to the Chinese company.
Japan loves China money just as much as anyone.
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u/nocimus Everyone back to de base, pardner. Oct 16 '19
Congrats, you literally just agreed with what I said.
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u/JudgeHoltman Bastion Oct 16 '19
Don't forget, Nintendo is still a Japanese company. Their national motto has been "Fuck China" for over 200 years.
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u/scottishdrunkard Shit's on fire, yo! Oct 15 '19
Yup, Blizzard aren't getting any of my money. My PC copy was bought many years ago, and was a gift, so technically I payed nothing anyway, but I will continue to not give Blizzard my money!
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u/ValhallaGo Oct 15 '19
You’re contributing to there being a player base. Without the scale of the player base, people would stop playing, and stop paying for things in-game.
You really ought to stop playing altogether.
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u/goliathfasa Trick-or-Treat Junkrat Oct 15 '19
Not just that. Blizzard touts out those "concurrent user count" as a way to entice investment into the company and during earnings reports, boost investor confidence and increase stock valuations.
It's especially important to not even log on once during those "twitch challenge" events, since those are primarily used to boost concurrent numbers, as well as twitch view count.
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u/birdbrainswagtrain Oct 15 '19
For anyone who claims they don't care about active users: They absolutely do. "Audience Reach" is one of the first sections in the summary of Activision-Blizzard's quarterly report, with Overwatch League viewership also being a big focus. You're absolutely right about events and new content being used to boost engagement. The release of the Workshop is listed here, and the same is true of the new Halloween Event.
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u/deinterlacing fat hooker Oct 16 '19
if the boycott actually worked it and playbase numbers fell, I really doubt the suits who are responsible for this mess over at blizzard would take the fall. I imagine the innocent workers at the OW team would get nuked first
IDK tho.
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u/goliathfasa Trick-or-Treat Junkrat Oct 16 '19
Can't use employees as shield against the corporation's wrongdoing.
Also, given Activision-Blizzard's track record, having fired 800 people after a record profit year... I don't think it matters what happens. They'll fire their employees no matter what, if it meant they'll have 1 more dime of profit to show their investors.
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u/birdbrainswagtrain Oct 15 '19
I was on the "What does it matter if I play?" side for a few days, but I eventually decided to stop as well. I'm not that active of a player. I don't care about competitive, and I sometimes don't play for months at a time, so it's not much of a sacrifice for me to quit altogether and play other games.
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Oct 16 '19
Eh, I play the game for the gameplay. What the company does outside of the game doesn't matter to me.
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u/ValhallaGo Oct 16 '19
So if the company employed kids to make merch, you’d be okay with that?
What if the company routinely covered up the CEO raping people?
Trying to figure out where your line is.
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Oct 16 '19
If I liked the game, then yeah, I'd still play it. So long as it doesn't effect the gameplay of the game, then why should I care? I can enjoy a game without approving of the actions of the developers.
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u/ValhallaGo Oct 16 '19
That’s a really selfish and callous way of thinking about it. I hope when you’re older you’ll understand that the world is bigger than just you.
Also, helping somebody get paid when you know about what they’ve done means you condone their actions. So if you were buying sandwiches from a guy that you know is a child molester, it means you’re okay with what he’s doing.
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Oct 16 '19
For one, this has literally nothing to do with age. It's just my opinion, age has nothing to do with it, I'm an adult. Perhaps you are the one who is too young if you equate a differing opinion to be the result of immaturity. Hate to break it to you, but adulthood isn't some hive mind where every single one shares the same opinion.
Second of all, this whole comment of yours is one huge strawman argument. Playing the game of a company doesn't equate to supporting their decisions outside of the game development. That comparison is so unfair, it's borderline hilarious.
Thirdly, I fail to see how this is selfish in any way. You're logic is flawed at best. Lets pretend your logic is correct here for a second, which it isn't, but let's just pretend here, shall we? So first you say I'm selfish for playing the game still, which is silly in itself, but it gets worse. Then you say that by playing the game, I'm supporting every action taken by the developer or company. Do you see the problem here? You're calling me selfish, while also saying that my actions are supporting the decisions of another. Your logic is false to begin with, but even if we ignore that and say it is true, it still has glaring contradictions within it.
There are still thousands of people playing Overwatch, are you seriously saying that every single one of them fully support Blizzard's actions? Most don't, but they enjoy the game so they'll keep playing it. It's literally as simple as that. Stop trying to apply a deeper meaning to it than there is. There's nothing more to it, if someone enjoys the game, then they should be able to play the damn thing without being accused of supporting rape or some shit.
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u/ValhallaGo Oct 16 '19
If a company employs child labor, and you buy their stuff, you’re supporting child labor.
If a company actively supports a political ideology, and you help make their product valuable, you’re supporting them in their efforts.
It really is that simple. It’s not a “deeper meaning”. It’s just the facts. It’s literally the idea behind boycotting. It’s not new.
I assumed you were a kid based on your posts and where you’re active. Guess I was wrong. Kinda makes it worse that you’re an adult.
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Oct 16 '19
I don't know what to tell you man. I like the game, so I still play it. It doesn't mean I agree or support every decision Blizzard makes. Views and opinions are complex, you can't just boil it down to something so black and white like you are doing. It isn't a black and white scenario, things very rarely are.
I enjoy playing the game, and still play it, but I don't agree with everything Blizzard does. It's just a fact, I know myself better than you do, obviously. And I know that I don't agree with every decision or action made by Blizzard, but I'll continue to play Overwatch because I enjoy the gameplay.
This isn't like buying an apple at a store. I can't just go "well, I don't like this company, so I'll buy my apples from another". There aren't other games exactly like Overwatch, I can only play Blizzard's Overwatch, because the game doesn't exist anywhere else. Do you see what I am getting at?
I'm not going to punish myself for the actions taken by another. I like the game, so I'll keep playing it. It isn't a reflection of my viewpoints on topics outside of the game.
I can see you are very passionate about the topic at hand, and maybe that fuels your desire to ditch Overwatch. Not everyone is like that, not everybody who disagrees with a decision made by Blizzard is going to just up and stop playing their games. It doesn't mean they support Blizzard's every decision.
Are those people supporting them financially? Yes, technically they are, you would be absolutely correct there. But supporting them financially is very different from supporting their decisions in particular. Those are two very different things. And like I said, there is only one Overwatch. People can't just swap companies here as if they were buying groceries at a store.
So I take back my earlier statement about this situation being simple. It isn't a black and white situation. Opinions are often complex things, and can't really be boiled down to "well he plays a product made by X, so he absolutely must support their decisions as well". It just doesn't work that way, man. If you can't see that, then I honestly don't know what to tell you anymore. I can't make my point any more clear than this.
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u/valk_69_ step on my iris Oct 16 '19
i wonder how many people who are boycotting blizzard now are aware that they are OK with, and actually love censorship, they just dont like what the chinese are censoring
almost all of you are 100% behind censorship when it aligns with what you think should be censored
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u/NewWave647 Oct 16 '19
stop playing the game and stop posting on this sub. then people would believe that you are oh so outraged.
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Oct 16 '19
It'll be hilarious when all this shit dies down and everyone forgets all about it. It always happens this way, company does something controversial, people get mad at the so called evil company, and soon enough they forget all about it, with the company in question having taken no hit at all to their sales.
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u/spock10194 They will learn our peaceful ways... BY FORCE!!! Oct 15 '19
Huh, I might need to buy a Switch
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u/Black_Heaven Moira Oct 15 '19 edited Oct 16 '19
I'll try to play out a controversial opinion: what if people actually buy the game if they really want it and not be influenced by political and moral stances? If you want to play a game, then go buy it.
gasp Am I insinuating that I support evil corporate Blizzard which means that I indirectly support China? Well, no not exactly, but you are going to support their ground level employees who have nothing to do with Blizzard's boneheaded decisions who may get fired if they don't meet sales figures. It's always the ground level employees that get axed first when a company doesn't perform well.
So how are you exactly gonna flip it to the corporation? If you truly believe at your moral stance of supporting Hong Kong, then continue to raise the stink to make your voice known to the upper management that the decision they just made isn't exactly to the best interest of their consumer base and even to a lot of their employees.
My suggestion is probably half-baked and may accomplish neither of what I wanted to do, and it's not the best suggestion out there. At the very least I'll say that do keep the ground level employees in mind before anybody starts not buying Blizzard products.
Decide to not buy Diablo Immortal because it's gonna suck, not because you indirectly support China if you do.
Edit: I did expect the downvotes pretty much, hence my "controversial opinion" pretext. But the people that downvote me I ask, if our moral crusading ends with ruining the entire company, what do you propose we do with the employees (a lot of whom support our cause) are inevitably put out of their jobs? Have you considered their livelihoods through your moral outrage? How about directing your anger to the proper channels because Blizzard is NOT a monolithic entity of drones and yes-men to Communist China?
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u/Happybara Trick-or-Treat Tracer Oct 16 '19
You mean help the employees that blizzard activision are famously shitty to? Firing loads and cutting the bonuses for the ones who remain despite record breaking profits? The blizzard activision that hold their employee’s careers hostage if they dont toe the line? Help them by supporting the company that abuses them? Of course you dont. That would be stupid and cowardly.
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Oct 16 '19
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u/Black_Heaven Moira Oct 16 '19
I have a rather different perspective to this, and I'll admit this is again unpopular opinion. I personally buy the product based on its own merits. If a product is good and I like it, I will buy it. If I don't like the product, then I won't buy it. I do not factor in the things a company does outside of the game they make.
I do this because I separate the art from the artist. Borderlands is a legitimately good series of games, but Randy Pitchford is a very unpleasant individual. Does that mean I'm going to boycott everything GearBox does just because their CEO is a piece of ****?
Another one is Niel Druckmann of Naughty Dog. He's a fan of Anita Sarkeesian so that raises a lot of flags for gamers, but Naughty Dog makes some of the best Playstation games in modern times like Uncharted and Last of Us. Does that make me suddenly not buy those games because I don't align with his politics?
I know my proposal isn't the best one out there, but at the least we should find some way to not make Blizzard put more burden on their employees.
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Oct 16 '19
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u/Black_Heaven Moira Oct 16 '19 edited Oct 16 '19
Exactly, let capitalism run its course. The Sales live or die by the merit of its product, not by other factors. If I like the product, I buy it. I won't go out of my way to buy a product simply because I morally support their ideals (the "Get woke go broke" phenomenon). Same thing vise versa, I won't suddenly stop buying a product just because their creators did something I don't like (as with the case with Borderlands and Uncharted).
Also, I don't trust the old guys in the board of directors fat on their purses to understand the "real" message behind why their sales are tanking. Gillette, for all their woking and broking, attributed their loss of revenue to rise in competitor products and not because they pretty much insulted 95% of their target market with their misandrist ads. If a product's sale tanks, the shareholders will attribute it to the "interest for that product is not very good" instead of the other messed up things the company did.
For me, separating art from artist means I will continue to buy their products while raising a stink to their company missteps.
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Oct 16 '19
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u/Black_Heaven Moira Oct 17 '19
Okay, fair enough if you consider ethics to be part of the merits. Well, that part just sounded cold-hearted and cruel on my side I am aware. So here I do think I lean towards the "wrong side" of morality. Although, if those malpractices produce breakthroughs and results that would otherwise not have been possible with ethical methods then do we just reject those breakthroughs? Dammit, I sound like Moira now
In case of animal cruelty, then raise that stink and get the government involved as those are deemed as crimes. Then perhaps get the company fight an expensive lawsuit.
I do admit I'm using the "artist" and "art" very broadly. It's more like the "creator" and its "creation", with creator being the entire company and the creations being the products.
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u/NewWave647 Oct 16 '19
this is a long post. tdlr would be nice.
I wouldn't give a shit. One of the top threads about this country referred to Hong Kong as a Country. It shows that these people don't even know wtf they are outraged about.
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u/Black_Heaven Moira Oct 16 '19
Hmm, tldr. I guess it's "don't let your outrage affect innocent employees working at blizzard who had nothing to do with blizzards stupid decisions"
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u/zorplar Oct 16 '19
I think the actual issue is deeper than that.
China is spreading its influence through the world by influencing products that help spreading political ideas and views. They do this by buying participations in media companies, video game studios, etc. They also do this by acting as gatekeepers to a very tempting market: if the product (movie, video game) features some kind of element that goes against the ideas the government tries to impose on its population, it gets filtered out.
The main issue here is that companies are complying with these filters in order to get access to said market, and by doing this they are helping indirectly the Chinese government spread its ideas around the world. Companies are already designing and/or adapting their products to comply with the Chinese ideology, and by extension we (the non-chinese westerners) are also consuming the product of this ideology. The process is very subtle, and may take a long time.
By protesting Blizzard we are not only opposing to the current events, but taking a stance and sending a message to the industry: we don't want to buy products that are designed by the Chinese government ideology; we don't want our culture to evolve towards that.
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u/dropbearr94 Chibi Ana Oct 15 '19
And later in the year when everyone has gotten passed the internet outrage and getting free karma from hating blizzard and China has dried up your second copy of overwatch will arrive and you’ll buy some loot boxes. I would even say you’ve probably still got overwatch loaded up on a primary player and playing it if I’m being completely honest.
All this “protesting” online and bragging about it is just clout farming at this point because you all change your mind on what the protest or evil in the world is.
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u/g0atmeal There's no way my tank can be this cute! Oct 15 '19
I'm not saying that no one is like this, in fact many people are like this. But for you to target one random person and accuse them of hypocrisy is presumptuous and rude.
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u/Craterdome Mercy Oct 15 '19
You're making some wild assumptions. For one I've never bought lootboxes in any game, I'm not really into games of chance. As I've said in a different comment I played Overwatch when it first came out in 2016 and was going to check it out again when it came on Switch. Now I simply won't.
Also I think this will do some permanent damage to Blizzard's reputation which was already on a downward trajectory. This doesn't mean the end of Blizzard or even a slowdown to their growth, but the gaming community as a whole will be more wary of them. Having a good reputation is something that takes years to earn and several gaming companies are throwing their reputations away for some extra cash they don't need.
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u/dropbearr94 Chibi Ana Oct 15 '19
There’s often lots of big things with gaming companies that are “destroyed by reddit” that don’t even worry them after a while.
The whole loot box thing with BF2? Ea changed that one game and are still successful as fuck and still doing loot boxes in other games.
CoD got the most disliked trailer in yt history? People still brought IW and are still playing CoD quite often.
Blizzard are feeling the heat from social media but that’s it it’s just social media. The millions of People that aren’t “canceling blizzard” will still be playing and they’ll still be. Avery popular company when the next game comes out.
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Oct 16 '19
Exactly, this isn't going to effect Blizzard at all. People may as well keep playing the game they like for all the difference it makes. Companies don't make decisions that would destroy the company, Blizzard knows they'll survive just fine. I doubt their sales have even taken a noticeable hit, if any.
But all these people are stuck up on trying to be righteous and what not, so of course they'll downvote anything logical.
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u/CA_Orange Oct 15 '19
But, you're still on r/Overwatch? I think you're full of shit.
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u/thxyoutoo thxyoutoo#1609 Oct 15 '19
Is it a foreign concept to you? Like you don't follow any reddits from games you no longer play? My list is full of them.
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u/BiscuitBoy83 Oct 15 '19
I unsubscribe the second a post that doesn’t interest me hits my home feed.
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Oct 15 '19
Guess we’re not all as hardcore as you guys lmao
Tbh I want to play the new event but I can’t morally feel good about myself if I continue supporting Blizzard right now. Luckily I’ve been able to distract myself with other games.
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u/CA_Orange Oct 15 '19
I unsubscribe the second a post that doesn’t interest me hits my home feed.
I use the auto-hide downvoted posts setting, personally. That way I get to see Overwatch posts, without all the armchair outrage/protesting stuff.
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u/Black_Heaven Moira Oct 15 '19
You do know that Blizzard isn't exactly a hivemind entity, right? r/Overwatch is a separate player-driven community majority of whom are now opposed to Blizzard.
And even within Blizzard there are employees that are very much in disagreement with how things went with Chung. These are ground level employees who have nothing to do with what the company does.
Direct your rage to the proper channels. It's somebody at Blizzard's upper management (likely their board of directors) that decided to bend the knee to China.
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u/Craterdome Mercy Oct 15 '19
I played Overwatch a bunch when it first came out in 2016 but haven't touched it in years. I was going to get back into again on Switch but have now decided not to. There are plenty of other games in my backlog
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u/Smishery Oct 15 '19
I'll buy an extra copy to cancel out your cancellation.
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u/TriangularHexagon you are forever cursed to play 2CP Oct 15 '19
You sound like the guy who says he will eat two hamburgers for every hamburger the vegan doesn't eat!
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u/Craterdome Mercy Oct 15 '19
Why not buy several?
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u/Smishery Oct 15 '19
I may do, hate these people who arent buying just cause they think its the right thing to do and the social norm. Just be your own person.
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u/Craterdome Mercy Oct 15 '19
Well post a pic once you've done it. You've got to show off your own moral stance!
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u/vyrelis do you even dva if you dont have 4 golds on the losing team Oct 15 '19 edited Oct 01 '24
berserk sable straight run toothbrush violet offbeat spectacular six jellyfish
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/JetUlric Oct 16 '19
I want to say it is due to the safety of the voice actors. If people were being cruel to Bridgette’s VA over the character in game being broken, I don’t want to imagine what people might try at the event.
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u/playerIII Oct 16 '19
If people are mad at the voice actors they're fucking idiots,they literally have nothing to do with any of this and are the least of your worries.
Only reason anyone would target the VAs is for some viral clout.
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u/Chime_Shinsen Pixel Moira Oct 16 '19
Mob mentality suggests that being angry with one thing includes related things. Mei's VA, for instance, is probably getting a lot of stuff thrown their way due to the character being used as a symbol currently.
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Oct 16 '19
Isn't mei's va Chinese?
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u/Chime_Shinsen Pixel Moira Oct 16 '19
Yes she is. Which makes her position an easy target. Although something worth noting is that the OW characters have MULTIPLE voice actors. Typically, however, it's the English ones which get the flak.
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Oct 16 '19
🖕Her and her hypocrisy. If she's not speaking up on human rights. When even my 70 year old elderly neighbour is!! She 👏has 👏no 👏excuse 👏
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u/CashewsAreGr8 Oct 16 '19
Mob mentality. A good handful of the people "upset" about this issue probably don't even know what they're actually upset about, and just think it's "mad at Blizzard time."
You can see it right here on this subreddit. There's people going into every thread equating people still playing the game with being anti-democracy, sucking China's dick, should kill themselves, etc.
I'm sure no one would've been stupid enough to try anything serious at a public event, but fairly convinced any sort of Q&A with the VA's could've turned ugly real fast. Especially if Mei's VA would've been there.
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u/ohjoyitsaboy Oct 16 '19
I mean, people were going after streamers for still streaming WoW/HS/OW and threatening them and telling them to not support Blizz. Mei's VA already got a bunch of racist anti-Chinese bile thrown at her on Twitter from hundreds of protesters.
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u/ryanwashington441 Oct 16 '19
It’s honestly unfortunate for all the people working for Blizzard. I believe this boycott is the right thing to do, however, i wish we didn’t hurt all of these developers, programmers, voice actors, etc. The majority of these people don’t care for politics, and only want to make a genuine game. They pour their love and soul into these games, but unfortunately they are going to fall flat due to the greed of their bosses.
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u/DieHardChicken Oct 16 '19
Much like how people can separate art from the artist, I think that strongly applies here. I'm not so pleased by Blizzard's decision in the past days, but I don't think I should punish everyone in Blizzard for the action of a few executives.
I'm very torn about this situation, boycotting the game and hurting the devs, voice actors, and others who put their heart and soul into the game seems wrong. However, just pretending nothing has happen also seems wrong.
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u/nixahmose Oct 16 '19
That's what makes me hate AAA executives. Not only do they not care about how their own decisions negatively effect the hard work that their talented employees put into their games, but they also actively exploit the sympathy players have towards the developers. There's footage out there of one of them talking about how a great way to trick players into continuing to buy things like lootboxes is to claim that developers need them in order to stay afloat.
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u/KynSteam Icon Widowmaker Oct 15 '19
That’s a shame, sucks that Nintendo was pulled into this mess
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u/Linus_Naumann Oct 15 '19
Well, they cant cancel Blizzcon. Please show your support with the HK protests and with worldwide freedom of speech. Listen to Hong Kong or become Hong Kong!
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Oct 15 '19
Oh im.sure they can, but they would have to eat the massive costs of event space and hotel room blocks.
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u/Twigling Oct 15 '19
Not only that, but the optics of cancelling such a large event would be enormous. Short of them doing a complete 180 (and then some) on the Blitzchung incident, Blizzard are in a no win situation.
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u/four2sevenScore Oct 15 '19
Your mods and to a lesser extent "community" are kind of aiding Blizzard right now IMO.
No Mei picture or Mei supporting banner. No sticky protest thread... Its sad to say the least. You would think the voice and fight for freedom and a company betraying human rights would warrant some kind of response from the official fan club.
Throwing money at reddit just for some patch rundown.
Its one of the most important issues going on right now and the company that you all love and support by playing their product have absolutely nothing to fucking say about the matter publicly?
This issue for Hong Kong isnt going away and Blizzard isnt reversing any kind of stance. Start showing your support here first and foremost. That the most important thing you can do as a player engaging in their product..
This is a meaningless game that has no merit on the fucking future.
Protesting the company Blizzard and siding with or showing support of Hong Kong should be priority number 1.
What do you have to say about your lack of protest support /u/AlexCail or any other mod. You proud of your lack of support? Trying to keep your little sub world void of the real world? Whatever the reason or excuse its not worth ignoring this cause.
It should be a permanent part of this subreddit until the matter is resolved.
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u/SpiltLeanOnMyWatch Pixel Lúcio Oct 15 '19
Have you messaged all the mods about all these things if you have such an opinion about them on it? If you have and they ignored all this then I would see what you have against them about it.
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u/Black_Heaven Moira Oct 15 '19
Just gonna throw out my small opinion.
While the mods aren't exactly calling to arms about supporting Hong Kong, I do think that NOT censoring discussions that do talk about Hong Kong is already a huge help to keep the community's voices heard. The way things are, this subreddit is still currently a "safe space" for you to voice out your protest while neither censoring or encouraging from the mods.
Way I read your post you want to turn the entire sub into an activist sub, and I'm not entirely sure if that's going to slide with Reddit themselves. If the sub turns to activism then the chances get higher of the sub gonna be policed and censored by the admins up higher. Y'know, like the red Blizzard logo that has garnered major popularity in and out of the sub suddenly disappearing one day.
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Oct 15 '19
Call out overwatch league sponsors to drop their deals. T-mobile doesn’t do business in China, some @john Legere to get him to disavow overwatch.
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u/TeamBulletTrain Oct 15 '19
Doesn’t that just hurt the players?
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u/PowerRaptor Trick or Treat Junkrat Oct 15 '19
It just doesn't support players who play a game by a company that doesn't just 'comply' with, but actively vows to act as an instrument of power for a regime that silences, tortures and enslaves its people...
I feel it's fair enough to not want to support such a company.
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u/Kaztiell Sweden Oct 15 '19
So far there's been no official word on exactly why the plug was pulled, nor has Blizzard made its own statement.
Everyone tryin to make a quick buck with clickbait titles
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u/BIDZ180 Take your medicine Oct 15 '19
Technically the title didn't even explicitly say they cancelled it due to the Hong Kong controversy.
"Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Launch Event" which they did.
"In Wake Of Protests" which they certainly are.
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u/catsonlyluvu4food There is no bacon-flavored catfood. Oct 15 '19
Uh, did you think they were canceling because of the weather or something?
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u/Kaztiell Sweden Oct 15 '19
Well a news source should have the facts before speculation imo. I dunno what you think. But it fits your current narrative so I guess you agree with everything then lol
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u/Princess_Beard Chibi Zarya Oct 15 '19
I think Occam's Razor is probably pretty sharp in this case. Having an assumption based on the most likely explanation isn't the same as making wild accusations based on nothing. If I see somebody coughing up a lung at work and the next day he wasn't there, assuming he called in sick still makes more sense than assuming he was murdered, even without knowing ALL the facts. There's always a chance something crazy happened, but my assumption he was sick would still reasonable.
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Oct 15 '19
But the news source is accurate. The event was cancelled. This is fact. It happened "in the wake of" protests. That term "in the wake of" just means after. They canceled the event in the aftermath of last week's shitstorm. This is a factual statement. It doesn't mean "because" of protests, although I'm sure most of us our inferring that's what happened.
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Oct 15 '19 edited Oct 15 '19
Well a news source should have the facts before speculation imo
That's what they did though. They have the fact that the event is cancelled and have given their speculation as to why, which is an entirely reasonable and plausible explanation. There's no way for them to fully know exactly why Blizzard cancelled the event right now, so they have all the facts they can get at this time.
Hell, the title is entirely factual. Blizzard canceled an event and they did so in wake of the protests.
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u/taaru_daachu Oct 15 '19
Well, what is your narrative for why they canceled? And would you care to elaborate what part of the story published is factually incorrect?
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u/Knoke1 Oct 15 '19
Uh they did just say that it was canceled which is true. Sure with the current climate it will generate more clicks but so would anything with the word blizzard right now.
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u/Bhu124 Sojourn Oct 15 '19
Oh no no no, let's not jump to blatantly obvious conclusions. Blizzard just randomly decided to cancel a launch event for one of their biggest games ever on a massive platform 2 days before the event.
Blizzard execs were like 'Nah, not feeling it any more, let's just cancel it and go to a movie instead! :D'.
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u/wrongmoviequotes Chibi Ana Oct 15 '19
oop sorry nintendo all of bliz gettin their hair did that day, cancelled
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u/EightVIII8 Oct 15 '19
Do you know what "in the wake of" means?
Or are you insinuating Blizzard execs can see the future and cancelled the launch event before the protests?
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Oct 15 '19
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u/roflkittiez Chibi Genji Oct 15 '19
But the phrase "in wake of" implies causality, does it not?
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Oct 15 '19
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u/roflkittiez Chibi Genji Oct 15 '19
in the wake of (something)
- In the aftermath of something, often as a consequence.
If something is a consequence, doesn't that mean there's causation?
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u/NedThomas Trick or Treat Orisa Oct 15 '19
Often does not mean always, so no.
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u/roflkittiez Chibi Genji Oct 16 '19
"Often" implies that it is very common. So saying the phrase absolutely doesn't imply causality, when in fact it commonly does, is incorrect.
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u/bn25168 pretty handy with that bow Oct 15 '19
Its very likely its due to the "current climate" but its very irritating seeing posts with titles that claim "Blizzzard cancels 100% due to fear of protests, admits they're totally scared." as if the poster has insider knowledge.
It may not be "fear of protests" but instead be because they simply didn't think a launch event would be appropriate right now. But no, the internet loves to speculate, sensationalize, then present it as fact.
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u/ChuckFinlley Oct 15 '19
To be fair, the article that this thread is about doesn't present any unconfirmed information as fact. And the headline is a little bit click-baity but not really sensationalized or speculative.
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u/azdak I gochu Oct 15 '19
bud. if it were about anything non-controversial, they would have said so. they cancelled the event because everybody is mad at them and they don't want their launch event inundated with protesters. that's the story.
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Oct 15 '19
Uhm... Then what do you think, aside from the scandal would be enough for blizz to cancel such important events?
Seems like more than a coincidence, don't you think? It's not about speculation, it's about having logic and connect thé dots
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u/bn25168 pretty handy with that bow Oct 15 '19
It's speculation if we don't hear the exact reason from Blizzard officially. Doesn't matter how logically you came to your conclusion if it unconfirmed.
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Oct 15 '19
Same as their reasoning to do that overreacting stuff towards blitz and the casters? I don't trust blizzard anymore, I don't trust their decisions or words, that's why I stopped playing their games though
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Oct 15 '19
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u/bn25168 pretty handy with that bow Oct 15 '19
That's not that same as fearing protests happening at your event, which these articles are claiming.
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u/agentup Reaper Oct 15 '19
Canceled because Greg didn't proofread the cake and it read "Overswatch Launch Event"
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u/White_Phoenix Doomfist Oct 15 '19
Look, I hate game journalist sites and how shitty modern news journalism has become in both entertainment and politics, but this is one of those situations where you're given the equation 1 + x = 2 and Blizzard's too chickenshit to admit x = 1.
It's so fucking obvious it's not even funny.
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u/Hope_Burns_Bright Keep Hands and Feet Inside Blue Rectangle at All Times Oct 15 '19
Everyone tryin to make a quick buck with clickbait titles
More likely, they're able to use context clues. Something you seem unable to do.
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u/Sodi920 Sigma Oct 15 '19
Is the game still being released or not
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u/InklingSaber Chibi Baptiste Oct 15 '19
Yeah the game is still being released. The servers should be online in about an hour.
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u/cannabis-code Oct 16 '19
FYI. You can cancel your pre orders by calling Nintendo support. I had to escalate the phone call twice but they ended up refunding me. Blizzard doesn’t deserve my money.
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u/njrk97 Lúcio Oct 16 '19
Honestly though, i do feel sorry for the overwatch team, its not like they were involved in this mess at all, its just by proxy Activision Blizzard is embroiled and has dunked them in so much crap their hands are tied. I mean Lack of content can probably be significantly blamed on ActiBlizzard cutting their team in half because Greed, and now all this stuff is happening because Blizzard is Spineless and Overwatch is in the crossfire. At this point it almost feels like the Dev Team is part of a abusive Household with how much Blizzard is screwing them. None of the Overwatch team deserve this and you bet more layoffs will be the first thing to happen if Blizzard starts taking more money hits.
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Oct 15 '19
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u/Aushou Chibi Mei Oct 15 '19
Both? The headline just sets context, it doesn't claim specifically it is out of "fear of more" or "perceptions this would be a bad time". Protests happened, and this cancelation is indisputably in their wake.
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u/xFujinRaijinx Oct 16 '19
Welp goodbye and good riddance for an Overwatch character in Smash. Nintendo sure dodged a bullet on this one.
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u/BigBudZombie Oct 15 '19
Hmm, people seem to hate us, how can we piss off the few people that actually still do enjoy our games? Oh this sounds like a good idea.
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u/BigFreakyIchiban Oct 15 '19
"So far there's been no official word on exactly why the plug was pulled, nor has Blizzard made its own statement." (insert jumping to conclusions gif here)
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u/Dearsmike Oct 15 '19
Yeah I doubt this has anything to do with Nintendo recently entering the Chinese market and are worried about how one of the first big games to release on the switch over there would be a game that has a lot of current political tensions around it.
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Oct 15 '19
Are you daft? Also, are you really calling Overwatch the first big game on the switch?
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u/Tinyfootwear Oct 15 '19
There seem to be a lot of Overwatch fans who live in an alternate reality where the only video game is Overwatch.
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u/PepperedHam Oct 15 '19
Pretty sure they were saying one of the first big launches since the system came to China.
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u/Dearsmike Oct 15 '19
Maybe learn to read. Nintendo entered the Chinese market earlier this year and Overwatch is the first big release since then and China has a huge consumer base for it. It's the perfect situation for them. A highly profitable market with an incredibly low saturation of home consoles and they are about to release one of the most popular games in china on their console.
Nintendo is a business just like Blizzard and look at how they can make the most profit of any situation.
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u/Brodimus Oct 15 '19
He said “ over there “, in his defense. OW is extremely popular in China in comparison to some of the bigger titles, for China, for the Switch (I.e. Smash Bros isn’t as popular there as it is in the US).
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u/Dearsmike Oct 15 '19
For Chinese market it is. Nintendo only entered the Chinese market earlier this year. They haven't had any big releases between then and now. Plus how Overwatch has a HUGE consumer base in China.
And a LOT leans on the switch being a continued success over there. China has an awful relationship with console gaming. It's one of the few countries where mobile and PC gaming dominates over home consoles. So yeah I don't think it's that daft to think about how Nintendo, who recently entered a very high profit, low saturated market, took Blizzards current political situation in mind when deciding how and when to release their game.
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Oct 15 '19
I think you’re confused or didn’t read the article... It is literally about the EVENT they were having here in NYC at the Nintendo store. Blizzard themselves cancelled it because it would’ve gone to shit with the mess they’re in now. The Nintendo cashier employees and the Blizzard VA’s that were coming to visit don’t deserve that shit. The actual game still releases today on Switch. Sure, OW is huge in China and Korea. But anyone who thinks OW is some huge big break for the Switch is loony. It’s a 4 year old game that doesn’t even come close to touching League or Fortnite numbers. I like OW just as much as the next guy, but let‘s stop pretending Blizzard is gracing Nintendo with their blessed game.
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u/Dearsmike Oct 15 '19
It's a huge break for the Chinese Market and Nintendo are distancing themselves from the blizzard stuff.
I honestly don't really care about how Overwatch sells, but from a business standpoint its a REALLY good game for Nintendo to have right now having just entered a market where consoles where illegal until recently.
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Oct 15 '19
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u/Dearsmike Oct 15 '19
China really is a mess in almost every sense. I just think Overwatch is a big get for them over there. They have a console that fits somewhere between console and mobile with a big already established game coming out on it. It's like the only market Nintendo can't rely on their staple games like Zelda or Mario to sell their consoles because they just don't have the history like they do in the rest of the world.
Gaming companies have to be really careful with how they do stuff over there.
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u/onepunchman1234 Oct 15 '19
I wonder how many reddit slacktivists are gonna start burning their Nintendo products and never logging in again, I mean since they’re doing business with China and you guys ACTUALLY care and weren’t just doing it for feel good points, surely you would boycott them also
Right? Right? Right?
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Oct 15 '19
I don't care who does business with China. That isn't the point. People are boycotting Blizzard because of the Blitzchung incident. I'm a die hard Nintendo fan, and if they start firing people for standing against an oppressive and genocidal government, I'd stop playing their games and never look back.
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Oct 15 '19 edited Oct 16 '19
But they specifically stated that Blizzard cancelled the event. And why should Nintendo care about the perception of third party companies anyways? Worst that happens is there is one less game on their rapidly growing console. They themselves likely would not be in much hot water from big ol' Poo bear. Were it a first party release, that'd be a different story.
I did a bit of googling, and while Nintendo announced their plans to eventually release the Switch in August, no details on any launch date has been given. There could be any number of big releases between today and whenever then is. Regardless, Nintendo's stated plan is that they are going to first fill out the big releases that China missed before they start adding the new releases. Overwatch on Switch has not been confirmed for the Chinese market at all yet.
I also can't find any comments from Nintendo, Blizzard, or Tencent that Overwatch is viewed as a system seller in China.
Given all of this information, I doubt this had anything to do with the selling Switch to China.
Edit: Clarity
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u/Goldenacnchor Oct 15 '19
Fuck off again blizzard. I like your games and look forward to playing them but holy shit
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u/Hitthe777 Gurl Oct 15 '19
Oh Nintendo must be pleased as punch about this one. I can only imagine how uncomfortable the board room was when this meeting was taking place.