Just stating an unpopular opinion here: people are judging Blizzard too harshly on the HK issue while not knowing so much about the political enviornment in China, nor do they took Chinese player base into consideration.
Personally I’m neutral about the whole HK movement, just like many other Chinese citizen and players do. True, there are people voicing their opinion on the internet either support or (mostly) against the movement, there are many Chinese players who just want to stay away from politic and play their games. And I’m sure Blizzard also have a lot of employee in working in China, not caring so much about politic
People are saying that Blizzard care only about profit and not their community, but isn’t Chinese player also part of the community? If Blizzard did not ban that player, Chinese goverment would, along with all the Blizzard games. If that happened, all the Chinese emplyoee working for Blizzard would lose their job, all the Chinese player might never have a chance to play Blizzard games, and all the money and time they spent would be gone for nothing, is that what people here wants to see? These people done nothing wrong, do they really deserve to be punished?
Back to the player who got banned. What happened to him was unfortunate, but he did violate the contract he had signed, and the two reporters who encouraged him also violated the rule by forcing Blizzard into this politic mess. And for people who do not have much idea about Chinese politic, the punishment this player received is much less harsh than what happened to many actors and singers, who got banned from performing in China forever.
What I want to say is, people like to categorize things by good and bad, but the reality is much more complicated. I won’t say that Blizzard does not care about profit at all, but they also care about their empoyees in China and Chinese player base, which is also part of this gaming community. And I believe that Blizzard did try they best on resolving this issue. And for those people who wish Blizzard games get banned in China, please know that Chinese players are not your enemy, they are also part of this community.
Thank you for reading this long post, and have a nice day!