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Activision Blizzard and The First Amendment

Colten Dudley
Prof. Matthew Hitt
Blog Post 2
October 16, 2019


Activision Blizzard and The First Amendment
As a member of the video gaming community in the United States, the past few weeks have been particularly odd. Activision Blizzard, a publishing parent company for both Activision and Blizzard (apparently smashing the names together makes a new company), is under heavy fire after an esports contestant “Blitzchung” voiced his support for the protests going on in Hong Kong. The winner of the video game competition lost all of his expected payouts, roughly 10,000 dollars in tournament winnings, and banned him from playing in another competition for over a year. In addition to this, the esports casters were fired from their jobs for simply sharing the screen with the player while he voiced his support for Hong Kong. 
This has caused fairly severe outrage amongst American Consumers, who see this movement made by Activision Blizzard as censorship of Free Speech made in favor of appeasing the Chinese Government, as the Chinese market for video games is a sort of ‘Holy Grail” for publishers. In the blog post announcing Blitzchung's ban, Blizzard said "we stand by one's right to express individual thoughts and opinions," but Blitzchung's comments were considered to be too harmful to the company. 
These events beg the question; should American companies violate the norms and laws on their country to appease another? These events come post NBA controversy, where an executive with the Houston Rockets voiced his support for Hong Kong protestors, infuriating Chinese fans and leading to major backpedaling on behalf of the NBA to appease the Chinese Government. However, as the gaming market grows, It is clear why companies are making the choice to appease China.  A Newzoo forecast predicted that Asian-Pacific regions will make up 47% of all consumer spending on games, and if these games don't meet Chinese standards, they won’t be sold to that area. 
The market is massive in China, so it is obvious that companies would want to take advantage of that. But when American Companies are outright censoring free speech in order to secure a dollar, American consumers become concerned.
This situation will continue to play out in the coming weeks, as Developers associated with these publishers voice their own distaste for Activision Blizzard’s actions. The legality of their actions is being called into question, and should have members of the United States constituency thinking about the companies that they support and the intentions that each of those companies have. This case could come to surface in future political news as tensions rise and American companies continue to support an oppressive Government overseas for a buck.
















Sources
Victor, Daniel. “Hong Kong Protests Put N.B.A. on Edge in China.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/sports/basketball/nba-china-hong-kong.html.
Webb, Kevin. “Here's a Timeline of Activision Blizzard's Terrible Week, as It Faces Fan Protests after an Esports Athlete Was Punished for Voicing Support for Hong Kong.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 12 Oct. 2019,
Wilson, Jason. “Newzoo: U.S. Will Overtake China as No. 1 Gaming Market in 2019.” VentureBeat, VentureBeat, 21 June 2019, venturebeat.com/2019/06/18/newzoo-u-s-will-overtake-china-as-no-1-gaming-market-in-2019/.




Comments

  1. KaitlynAndersonOctober 22, 2019 at 11:41 AM

    This issue is very interesting. I had heard about the issue with the NBA last week from one of my other political science classes. I agree with you that it is concerning that companies like this are trying to make money by appealing to the Chinese audience. I do not think that it is right for companies or the government to oppress the first amendment right of companies that choose to voice support for issues like this whether it is to make money or not.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Turner ChangOctober 23, 2019 at 8:06 PM

    I have been watching this issue and ones similar where Chinese regulations are affecting how American companies operate and i find this very troublesome. This corrupts our businesses forcing them to adhere to Chinese laws or lose out on billions of dollars in profit. I feel that this will become a more mainstream issue soon because with so much Chinese influence in our economy hopefully our government wont follow suit.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eric KrawczykOctober 24, 2019 at 1:50 AM

    Very interesting topic and a good job connecting esports into the political topic. I had heard about the NBA problem before, but the esports connection was an interesting take. It will be very interesting to see how the Hong Kong situation takes place and if congress will interfere.

    ReplyDelete

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