Examples of Damage Control in Gaming: Blizzard’s Plan to Weather This Storm Might Work

Blizzard Entertainment has been within a firestorm of their own creation for the last month. It started when they penalized pro Hearthstone player Chung “blitzchung” Ng Wai for daring to take a stand in support of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protestors after he won the Hearthstone Grandmasters tournament. The company responded by stripping him of the prize money and banning him and the casters who happened to be present during the incident for a year, despite the latter two not participating in it. They subsequently damage controlled this by returning the prize money to blitzchung and lightening the penalty for all three to six months, but the message was sent. Blizzard valued their business with the autocratic China over democracy supporters in Hong Kong.

Humorously, this happened mere weeks before BlizzCon, a now-ongoing convention where Blizzard shares info about current games and upcoming projects with fans. As in, the same fans pissed off immediately after their aforementioned actions. There were good guesses as to how this weekend would play out, with fans who already purchased tickets planning to go and let them know how they feel by protesting. Others were raising money to go to do the same. Signs suggested that it would be a giant mess, but Blizzard was bound to have a backup plan.

Leaks confirmed their plan to battle bad press by creating their own good press, through making announcements they knew would impress fans. The intention was to make the event the antithesis of last year, when many of those fans were peeved that a newly-revealed Diablo game, Diablo Immortal, was announced for mobile phones. Basically, they bet that gamers would have the memories of goldfish, and the gap between the incident and this weekend was long enough for the upset to subside.

There have been fans protesting the event online and outside the venue; but if demonstrations have occurred inside, they sure as hell have been drowned out by the announcements Blizzard made.

Blizzard started the event by apologizing for their communication during the incident described in the lead paragraph. Note that they did not apologize for kicking off the incident, though the wording from Blizzard president J. Allen Brack did its best to make it seem like they did. This will ring hollow unless they undo the punishment to blitzchung and the casters, and given how it’s now been over a day since it happened as of this writing, that’s unlikely to happen.

I feel bad for admitting that they made some great announcements, which shows how they knew exactly what they were doing. Diablo IV was confirmed just after the apology, the existence of which was a surprise to no one thanks to insider information from Kotaku’s Jason Schreier a year ago, and the info that leaked before the announcement. The game will include the dungeon exploration and loot gathering from previous installments, and a new feature that allows for groups of players to gather in the same world to tackle big challenges, placing increased focus on the online experience.

The gameplay looked extremely early, and Blizzard not only didn’t provide a release date, but also said it wouldn’t be coming any time soon — even by their usual standards. This might be an early announcement for the sake of it, given how Diablo III was announced years before it released too. But it’s hard not to think this project was revealed now to counter the firestorm. The game is due for a release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, but given the potential release timing, I’d be surprised if it doesn’t also arrive for next-generation platforms.

Also announced was a new World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion, a significant update that will feature a new realm for players to explore in the long-running MMORPG due sometime in 2020. Interestingly, this expansion will halve the level cap from 120 to 60, likely to make the cap easier for new players to strive for. Unlike the others, this announcement seems like it was planned all along.

The other big announcement was for Overwatch 2, the existence of which also leaked leading up to BlizzCon’s start. This was shown through a very entertaining CG trailer suffused with Big Avengers Energy, to no surprise. A shorter gameplay video was also shown, which previewed a game that looks remarkably similar to its predecessor.

Overwatch 2 will continue the story by featuring classic Overwatch heroes teaming up with the new generation, with the CG trailer setting the tone. The new in-game customization options should help distinguish it from the first game, in addition to the new characters and locations. One new character will be a black Canadian woman known as Sojourn, which shows how the development team has been listening to the criticism about the lack of black female characters among the cast. There will, of course, be plenty more of them revealed from here on, though whether the characters and changes will make this installment feel like a full sequel remains to be seen.

Overwatch 2 will release on PS4, XB1, Switch, and PC at some point in the future. The fact that it’s coming to Switch and the unknown release date should prevent anyone who purchased the recently-released Switch port of the first game from thinking they just wasted their money.

The protests existing is good, but they’re having trouble fighting for press among the announcements. More fans also seem interested in the games than the company capitulating to a country known for egregious human rights abuses. Even if the number of fans concerned about the Hong Kong protestors and the company’s response to them is nearly on par with those more interested in the games, the fact that it seems like the latter group dwarfs the former is bad for the potential of Blizzard facing any consequences. It’s difficult to shake the feeling that Blizzard will get away with this with their financials unscathed, but that’s also assuming they don’t have any further snafus following the blitzchung incident.

The fact that Blizzard had to apologize at all shows how they value their reputation, but it’s also clear that they bet right by thinking their announcements would supplant word of the continuing protests. Not that this strategy hasn’t worked before, but it means nothing will matter if they suffer no financial repercussions. Given the reception here, the chances of that happening are low. That is, if there are future incidents like the blitzchung one from here. We’ll see.

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