Recent Blizzard Announcements? Smell like Damage Control

By now I’m sure you’re all aware of the recent controversy that Blizzard have landed themselves in when a professional Hearthstone player by the name of Blitzchung donned a mask and voiced his support for the Hong Kong protestors which resulted in the knee jerk reaction from Blizzard to withdraw his winnings and temporarily banning him from competitive play, ever since then it has been non-stop damage control for the publisher with varying results.

As of late however it feels like Blizzard has gone from damage control to trying to sweep things under the rug by distracting fan with ‘leaks’ and previews of upcoming games ahead of Blizzcon to put out the proverbial fires before the event opens up.

All of this is speculation on my part I will admit that but there is something so off with how the announcements for Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 have dropped lately, the best example was the supposed ‘leak’ of Overwatch 2, granted Blizzard were most likely planning to announce it at Blizzcon but the wealth of information dropped from this leak was way too in-depth and vast that I mistook it for a real announcement at first. Quite often leaks are accidental but it’s not unheard of for developers and publishers to leak information to generate hype for a game.

In the case of Blizzard however the timing of these leaks and reveals are not only poorly timed but they’re so matter of fact that it feels like another knee jerk reaction that Blizzard are calling damage control. The games leaked and announced also give me a reason to put on my tinfoil hat because it’s basically Blizzard saying, “hey you know those massively popular games you love? We’re doing more of them, please buy our stuff again.”

Maybe I’m crazy or maybe I’m right but at the end of the day Blizzard not only made a huge mistake in the pursuit of the Chinese market they have actively shown that they care more for money than human rights so I’m not planning on buying anything from them for a while and remember that if you ever want to make a publisher change their ways, vote with your wallet as money is the only language these people speak.

(Of course these are not the opinions of everyone who works for TheZombieChimp, though I dare say, you’ll find a few people who agree – Ed.)