Everyone and their pet Murloc has probably heard about the latest controversy in the gaming world, where Blizzard took away the prize money of a professional Hearthstone player and banned him for a year for voicing his political opinion about the Hong Kong riots because it was “against competition rules”. You can read more about the “Boycott Blizzard” controversy here. Fortnite is, of course, a massive game and now, CEO Tim Sweeney has come out to say that Epic Games won’t punish or ban Fortnite players and content creators for voicing their political opinion.
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As reported by The Verge, Epic Games said that:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”20″]Epic supports everyone’s right to express their views on politics and human rights. We wouldn’t ban or punish a Fortnite player or content creator for speaking on these topics[/perfectpullquote]
That is a big stance to take especially since Tencent (a Chinese company) owns roughly 40% shares in Epic Games. In a series of tweets by CEO Tim Sweeney, it was revealed that even though Tencent owns roughly 40% shares, Epic Games will not be swayed into a different decision on the matter of freedom for players to voice their political views.
Tim Sweeney explained: “Epic is a US company and I’m the controlling shareholder. Tencent is an approximately 40% shareholder, and there are many other shareholders including employees and investors.”
One of Sweeney’s followers pointed out that 40% is not an insignificant piece of shares. However, Sweeney stressed that: “That will never happen on my watch as the founder, CEO, and controlling shareholder.”
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What do you think about the stance on the matter from Epic Games and Tim Sweeney and that they would never ban or punish Fortnite players for voicing their political opinions? Let us know in the comment section below and share your thoughts on the whole Boycott Blizzard controversy in case you haven’t already.
