{"id":21343,"date":"2019-10-08T18:41:18","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T18:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2019\/10\/08\/blizzard-entertainment-bans-esports-player-after-pro-hong-kong-comments\/"},"modified":"2019-10-08T18:41:18","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T18:41:18","slug":"blizzard-entertainment-bans-esports-player-after-pro-hong-kong-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/blizzard-entertainment-bans-esports-player-after-pro-hong-kong-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"Blizzard Entertainment Bans Esports Player After Pro-Hong Kong Comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Paolo Zialcita<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n The Activision Blizzard Booth during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

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Jae C. Hong\/AP<\/p>\n

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Jae C. Hong\/AP<\/p>\n

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Blizzard Entertainment, the game developer behind hugely popular titles such as World of Warcraft <\/em>and Overwatch<\/em>, has banned a professional esports player from competing and taken away his prize money after he expressed support for Hong Kong’s protest movement.<\/p>\n

Ng Wai Chung, who lives in Hong Kong and plays under the name Blitzchung<\/a>, is one of the top players in the Asia-Pacific region for the online card deck game Hearthstone<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Blitzchung made the comment on an official Hearthstone <\/em>broadcast on Twitch, the video streaming platform, after his last game in the 2019 Hearthstone Asia-Pacific Grandmasters Tournament.<\/p>\n

Blitzchung wore a gas mask and dark goggles during that interview<\/a> last Sunday, evoking the gear activists have worn during months of street protests. Toward the end of the segment, he shouted the popular protest chant, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times!”<\/p>\n

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In an announcement<\/a> released Tuesday, Blizzard Entertainment said the player’s statement violated a tournament rule that prohibits any acts that “brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image [sic].”<\/p>\n

Blitzchung, a Hong Kong native who started playing Hearthstone <\/em>in 2015, was banned from participating in Blizzard esports for a year. He told several media outlets that his tournament winnings, said to be $10,000, have been rescinded. Blizzard also announced they will no longer work with the two Taiwanese streamers who interviewed the esports player on Twitch.<\/p>\n

After his punishment was announced, Blitzchung spoke<\/a> to his fans on his personal Twitch account.<\/p>\n

“Today I lost Hearthstone<\/em>, it’s only a matter of four years,” he said, referring to his years playing the game. “But if Hong Kong lost, it’s a matter of a lifetime.”<\/p>\n