Blizzard had a pretty strong BlizzCon this year, at least when it comes to game announcements, thanks to the unveiling of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, Diablo IV, and Overwatch 2.
That said, as promised ahead of the event, some fans did indeed set up a protest at BlizzCon to complain about the whole Blitzchung controversy.
Speaking to IGN, Blizzard president J. Allen Brack said protesters are just part of the culture of free expression of which himself and the company are big believers in. Overall, he then proceeded to describe the Blitzchung incident as a 'nightmare for everyone involved'.
We’re big believers in free expression. I’m personally a big believer in free expression. So, it’s a little interesting for me personally to be a person who's involved in not being a supporter. The supporters there are welcome. Protest is part of what it is to be in our culture.
I think this has been a humbling incident for Blizzard, really across the board, if you think about how this has really, kind of, taken over and kind of taken on a life of its own. I think there’s a lot of work that we want to kind of continue to do, to think about how to prevent something like this from ever happening again. It’s been a – I think – a nightmare for all involved.
Brack also wanted to highlight that the official comment made on Hearthstone's Weibo account was not in any way devised or even endorsed by Blizzard, as that account is operated by NetEase, the game's publisher in China.
I think there is a lot of confusion around how publishing games work in China. We are not legally allowed to publish our games in China. We must have a partner… in this case, Netease.
It is their quote. It is their employees that made that quote. It is not something that we approved. It is not something that we would have approved. It is not something that we feel like is representative of Blizzard.
On stage, during the opening ceremony of BlizzCon 2019, Brack had delivered an apology. You can rewatch it below, recorded by IGN.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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