Blizzard bans three college Hearthstone players for Hong Kong protest sign

Blizzard has suspended three college Hearthstone players for six months after they held up a sign that read “Free Hong Kong, Boycott Blizz” while participating in an official competition stream.

The ban, which was first reported by VICE Games, comes just over a week after Blizzard suspended a professional Hearthstone player, Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung for six months. Chung was suspended for showing support for Hong Kong protesters in an interview after Hearthstone’s Grandmaster tournament. The incident led to widespread complaints from the gaming community, as well as within Blizzard itself.

Similar to Blitzchung’s ban, the three college players didn’t receive word about their ban until a couple of days after they held up the sign. The Verge has reached out to Blizzard for additional comment.

Team player Casey Chambers tweeted out an email from a member of the Hearthstone team at Blizzard, which stated that the entire team received the ban for violating the company’s official rules. Chambers and his teammates specifically violated a section of the rules pertaining to sportsmanship, which states that players must refrain from performing any gesture that insults a group of people or could incite others to act in a way that is “abusive, insulting, mocking, or disruptive.”

The team’s ban is just the latest entry in a global protest of Blizzard’s actions. The level of discourse surrounding the incident prompted J. Allen Brack, Blizzard Entertainment president, to issue a lengthy response. The statement addressed Chung’s ban, specifying that the “specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made.”

“I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision,” Brack continued.

Blizzard is just one of many companies facing scrutiny for its relationship to China amid unrest in Hong Kong. Protests in Hong Kong have been building since February, with protesters citing a proposed bill that would allow Hong Kong residents to be extradited to China for trial as a core concern.