Five U.S. members of the congress have sent Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick a letter to reconsider the company’s punishment and stance on Hearthstone player Ng Wai “Blitzchun” Chung for speaking out in support for the Hong Kong protests.
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The five members include United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), US Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Reps Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Mike Gallagher (R-WI), and Tom Malinowski (D-NJ). All five member signes the letter addressed to Robert Kotick in regards to the recent Blizzard controversy.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#FFA70C” class=”19″ size=””]“We write to express our deep concern about Activision Blizzard’s decision to make player Ng Way Chung forfeit prize money and ban him from participating in tournaments for a year after he voiced support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. The decision is particularly concerning in light of the Chinese government’s growing appetite for pressuring American businesses to help stifle free speech.”[/perfectpullquote]
The letter goes on to explain how Activision Blizzard benefits from the relationship with China’s esports and gaming market. The letter also states how China has acted against US companies like Apple and the NBA for their incidents regarding China and Hong Kong.
The letter explains how Activision Blizzard and its decision to ban and remove the prize money from Hearthstone player Chung could have a chilling effect on gamers who see to use their platform to promote humans rights and basic freedoms. The letter also makes it clear that many gamers have noticed the actions of Activision Blizzard, understandably calling for boycotts of the company.
The actions of the company have sparked global outrage and a world-wide boycott to the extent of peaceful protests planned at BlizzCon in November and even the cancellation of a launch event planned in New York for the Switch version of Overwatch in fear of protests.
If Blizzard speaks out about the letter sent to them, we will update you accordingly.
