How do you respond when a character from your top grossing game is turned into a political meme? This is what Blizzard has been learning this week.
How do you handle potentially thousands of attendees, at your organization's biggest annual event, turning it into a platform for political protest agaisnt your biggest growing market?
There's three possible events:
BlizzCon is canceled. Extremely unlikely but possible.
Blizzard attempts to control the narrative during the con by policing the floors to extinguish any mention of china or Hong Kong. Stripping those who do of their con membership. Leading to more negative reactions from domestic users.
Blizzard does nothing. Thousands of videos and photos flood the web of blizzcon of what looks like a sanctioned public protests by the company. China responds by blocking all Blizzard products in their country.
This is a very awkward situation for blizzard, one they have ultimately created, no real way they will win.
How do you handle potentially thousands of attendees, at your organization's biggest annual event, turning it into a platform for political protest agaisnt your biggest growing market?
There's three possible events:
BlizzCon is canceled. Extremely unlikely but possible.
Blizzard attempts to control the narrative during the con by policing the floors to extinguish any mention of china or Hong Kong. Stripping those who do of their con membership. Leading to more negative reactions from domestic users.
Blizzard does nothing. Thousands of videos and photos flood the web of blizzcon of what looks like a sanctioned public protests by the company. China responds by blocking all Blizzard products in their country.
This is a very awkward situation for blizzard, one they have ultimately created, no real way they will win.