Mitsubishi Motors has dropped its sponsorship of a Taiwanese Hearthstone tournament due to Blizzard’s ban of a pro-“Free Hong Kong” Hearthstone player.
It looks like Blizzard is starting to become toxic even in the corporate world. A confirmation has come in that Mitsubishi Motors Taiwan has severed ties with Blizzard due to the harsh treatment of a former professional Hearthstone player after he expressed support in favor of the Hong Kong protests during a live tournament broadcast.
The controversy began earlier in October after Ng Way “Blitzchung” Chung uttered a Free Hong Kong slogan following a game in a Hearthstone tournament. Blizzard immediately condemned the action, banning Blitzchung from all professional Hearthstone tournaments and rescinding the $10,000 in prize money he’d already won.
Backlash for Blizzard was swift and severe, first on social media and later in the press. The New York Times ran headlines examining China’s influence on American companies. US Congresspeople sent letters to Blizzard expressing concern for sacrificing their values in favor of access to the Chinese market. All the while, #BoycottBlizzard continued to trend on social media platforms around the world.
In the days following Blitzchung’s ban, Mitsubishi quietly severed its support of Blizzard’s Hearthstone tournaments in the Asia Pacific market. This was noticed first on Reddit several weeks, with images showing Hearthstone broadcasts now lacking the Mitsubishi logo.
It was speculated that Mitsubishi had dropped their Blizzard sponsorship, but The Daily Beast confirmed it by speaking with a Mitsubishi spokesperson. Other sponsors, including Coca Cola, Twitch, and Asus, have stated their sponsorship deals with Blizzard remain unchanged.
Blizzard is still dealing with the fallout of the Blitzchung ban, with many Hearthstone players following Blitzchung and abandoning the game altogether. Other players have shown similar support of Hong Kong democracy during Hearthstone livestreams and in official Blizzard forums - and have received similarly harsh treatment.
So far Blizzard has made little effort to regain the community’s trust, but that might change at this year’s BlizzCon. Blizzard has six big announcements waiting, with Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 widely expected to be revealed. We’ll find out during opening ceremonies on November 1st.
