Please make it stop.
Of all the games that Sony decided to show off as being their Playstation 5 line-up, there was but one which actively encouraged to spit in it's direction. A game so bafflingly popular that it positively disgusts me to see it perpetrated year after year, and to whom their community is one of the most embarrassing stains on all gaming culture. (Second only to those Star Citizen mega fans who spend their life savings funding a pipe dream.) Of course I'm talking about the yearly copy-and-repeat job out of the sports world; NBA 2K21, and what sort of world are we in where true game development maestros like Arkane, Oddworld Inhabitants and IOI have to share a digital stage with the gibbering hacks out of 2K who are so lacking in any rudimentary talent or know-how that they forgot to change their executable's Ico file last year. (You just can't make it up.)
"But how can you possibly talk about 2K for an entire blog" I hear you wonder, "They make the same game every year, pull the same crap, and never, ever, learn." And right you are, reader, but that's the very reason why I can't just let it go. This isn't a case of the second or third entry in the row that has made the same stupid mistakes, that's abhorrent and pathetic enough, no this is beyond the 10th entry of the same unrelenting nonsense. It's far beyond a joke; it is a menace upon the once-great sports games world. What was the last great sports game title which still had passion and creativity behind it, and wasn't just another serialised duplicate cash-in? Was it Rocket League? Because that game came out half a decade ago so if it was then this industry has got problems... But another popular argument which could be addressed right here is the claim that "You wouldn't buy this game anyway" (damn right, I wouldn't) "So why waste your breath?" Well I'll tell you, it's because these games invariably contain the portend for whatever dark hell is impending on the rest of industry.
That's right, I'm not some sort of bible-thumping magnanimous do-gooder who campaigns for the good of communities that he actively dislikes, no this is a purely personal squabble as I'm tired of dealing with the ripples that the sports industry splash down with. First came the microtransaction which may owe their popularity just as much to MW3 as anyone else, but still was pushed heavily by sports games and now they're freakin' everywhere. Then came the lootboxes which introduced an element of gambling to our purchases in such an avaricious and transparent manner that even governments are starting to mobilise legislature to get them regulated and/or banned. (Good riddance.) But what kind of control-freak bender could the folk over at 2K be on now? How else will they try to jump the shark and lead the rest of the industry along for the ride? Well it's quite simple actually, so simple I'm amazed they haven't tried it years ago; they've upped the price of games from $60 to $70 coming into the new generation. (Way to start the decade off right you sack of pustulous worms.)
Now, the pricing of triple A games has been something of a debate over the last couple of decades as we've sat rather firmly in the $60 price point for so long now. (With the regional conversions bridging from there.) This price point has stayed mostly stagnant throughout all the shifting tides of inflation and rising production costs to the point where some folk feel it's only right that games start upping the pricing again, to account for all the new variables. But there's some matters folk fail to take into account. Sure prices have remained at $60, but that has been enabled by the absolute explosion of the industry over the past couple of decades as the once-niche hobby has become one of the biggest pastimes across the world. (Thus significantly widening the potential client base) Because of the nature of the product, upscaling the sales of games is minimal and thus the amount of money that AAA games companies rake in has skyrocketed alongside the meteoric growth of the hobby. (Heck, gaming was labelled as the single post profitable entertainment medium last year, and that was without Covid shutting everything down. Imagine how ridiculous that figure is this year!)
Whatsmore, the idea that video games haven't become more expensive over these last 20 years is a complete misnomer as proven by the points and industry trends that I've already bought up. DLC allows for extra content to be sold alongside the game and Microtransactions allow for tiny bits of data to be mass sold on top of games. MMOs allow for subscription services that can secure reliable and regular funding to games and Live Service titles can secure a mix of all three of those extra payment methods.Through all of these little tricks, alongside the rising sales-base, games companies have been fully within their capacity to match the rising cost of development, provided they appropriatly manage funds. (Funny how all the companies who complain about lacking the funding for development coincide with the one's who pay off unearned millions to their executives...)
Yet even with all that to ruminate on, 2K have decided that those who want to buy the next gen version of their latest dumpster fire will have to cough up an extra $10 in order to do so. That's $10 for the exact same game save for some upscaled textures which, knowing 2K, were probably just scaled with the 'expand tool' in Photoshop. (Seems like a great deal to me, no?) And the worst part is that when this inevitably works out great for the company, because all the sheep who buy these games likely lack the awareness to notice the obvious price hike, you already know it's going to start getting forced on the rest of us. EA are already rubbing their hands waiting for an excuse to jack-up all of their first-party titles, I can promise you that. And once they do it, other's will be encouraged to follow suit in order to stay competitive, and then the community will push back, making these companies retreat to a compromise of $65 to appease us all, tricking everyone into putting down their pitchforks under the impression that they won. We've done this song and dance before and I've gotten bored of all the moves.
But that isn't all the stupid tricks that 2K is trying to pull because of course it isn't. This is 2K we're talking about, those guys can't publish a single trailer without simultaneously unveiling something brow and controversy-raising. It's their signature move, their raison d'être, their one armed man. So last year was the gambling, before that was the microtransactions, and this year it's the confusing payment plan again which they've bought up to disguise their scummy replacement for Xbox Smart Delivery. (Which, as a reminder, is a program that allows players to upgrade their current gen versions of upcoming games to next gen versions at no extra cost.) Under 2K's system, folk who buy the current gen version of NBA 2K21 will have to independently buy another copy in order to play on the next generation. This is unless those folk shell out for the $100 Mamba Forever version of the game which offers players a free copy of the standard edition of the next gen game. (They couldn't even give them the special edition for $100.) Oh, and extra points for exploiting the horrific tragedy of Kobe Bryant's death to sell this plan, 2K; that's really on-brand for you.
So yeah, I'm not going to go through my usual cycle of talking about the game, summing up the trailer and discussing if its worthy of representing the new generation, because this is the sort of trash that's not worth that level of consideration. These titles aren't games anymore, they're cynical schemes to wrangle as much blood-sweat-and-cash from their fan base as humanly possible, with a gross tendency of setting just the worst examples on the rest of the industry. These are the titles shunting creativity out of the gaming medium and it sickens me to think about how they get away with this year after year without even the most remote modicum of push-back. So to any sports games fans who read this I implore you, stand up for yourself, stand up for the hobby you claim to love and stand up for all of us, because your games are quite literally the front lines for every repugnant greedy tech executive out there. The next ten years of gaming culture could, quite literally, be in your hands. Don't buy 2K21.
Showing posts with label NBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NBA. Show all posts
Wednesday, 22 July 2020
Tuesday, 31 March 2020
When the physical becomes digital: Sports Edition
I touched the pale veil
Well, over here in England our head of state has formally threatened to arrest all those who go outside unnecessarily, so I feel it's safe to say that our lockdown is in full effect. These are the same sorts of measures that are starting to pop up all over the globe and as a result the usual day-to-day of our lives is slowly becoming distorted. Suddenly everyone is being expected to keep themselves entertained in doors, which may be business-as-usual for some of us out here but for others this is proving a true test of wills. Some folk have the right idea it would seem, as Steam recently reported their highest concurrent user days of all time (with highs in the 20 millions), but others are spending their days on Amazon or eBay paying through the nose for price gouged family board games. (Or you could pay £15 for tabletop simulator. But what do I know, right?)
In this brave new minimally physical world, two things have become clear. Firstly, that Supergirl's current anti-VR season isn't just terribly written and woefully uninformed, but also excessively dated; and secondly, that gaming can be the solution to a lot of folk's current woes. (Is that my second Supergirl reference in a month? I need help.) By that latter statement I mean to say that there is not necessarily a need to cancel every single event of the year if the digital world of gaming has the infrastructure to accommodate for you. Afterall, just look at Poland. Over there the government has followed the lead of their many peers by shutting down all schools and public services, but they've made up the time to keep kids entertained (and educated?) with a country-wide Minecraft Server. (Wow, MCProHosting must have hit the big leagues!) This initiative, dubbed 'Grarantana', intends to keep students of all ages hooked to building virtual creations on a plot instead of outside being delinquents and spreading their viruses.
This isn't a precedent limited to the Polish either. Back when sports events started to get cancelled, there was a growing contingent of folk who called out for alternatives to be implemented. Afterall, when you shape your entire life and personality around your fandom of a regular sports event it can be rather daunting to be forced into going a year without. one of the more 'out there' ideas has been using those 'official' sports games that are the bane of the entire gaming industry in order to simulate matches. But that's crazy right? That'll never happen! And it probably won't. But there was an exhibition NBA match that was held between two representative players for the delight of a live-streamed audience. Yes, that actually happened.
But that isn't even all. Just recently there was a NASCAR event that was streamed to homes around the world that even Dale Earnhardt Jr. came out of retirement in order to take part in. And yes, fitting the theme of this blog it was event that was held completely within a game. The 'Virtual Homestead' race was conducted by providing all the racers with a professional racing set-up and allowing them to all take part from the safe isolation of their homes. The streamed footage, meanwhile, was held in a spectator mode which perfectly mirrored the sorts of angles that you'd get from an official event whilst risking the exposure of no camera men. The whole event was also commentated upon by real commentators who all managed to treat the event with some seriousness despite the whole scenario, leading to a race that even hardcore veteran NASCAR fans concluded was: serviceable.
So perhaps out of quarantine could spring some new level of understanding between the mainstream and the world of gaming, as more and more people come to see the benefits of the medium. Of course, I doubt that gaming will ever be used for anything other than exhibition rounds of a certain sport, as otherwise it would remove the physical prowess aspect from the respective sport, but in times like this even that helps nurture a hungry community. If this habit were to catch on even more we may even make it to the point where virtual matches find their way into the everyday, once we've moved out of social isolation and lockdown. Perhaps then some of the wind will have be knocked out of the sails of the next politician who tries to use gaming as a whipping boy whenever they want to distract from a real world issue. (Wouldn't that be a novelty?)
Of course, this isn't the cure-all solution to every single delayed sporting event. After all not long ago the IOC's Dick Pound announced how it was likely that the Olympics could be delayed until 2021. (Yes, that is his real name.) Now sure, I would recommend that they simply just throw all the athletes into 'Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games' but something tells me that our Greek forebearers might spin in their graves slightly at such a proposition. But with sports that aren't so tightly linked with hundreds of years worth of history, why not? Heck a year of virtual matches could ultimately turn out to be one of the most expectation shattering years of sports history ever. (I'll bet even Biff's almanac couldn't have forseen this! But then, that book only went to the year 2000, so I guess that's a given.)
In the meanwhile, expect a year wherein E-sports grows more than it ever has in popularity, as sports bets aficionado's have to risk their cash somewhere. Some of the bigger and more public events might be getting scaled down, but it would be ridiculous for them to receive the same 'blanket ban' treatment that traditional sports is getting. That goes doubly true considering that this is set to be the year of Overwatch 2 and has already seen the drop of 'Call of Duty: Warzone'; those are E-sports darlings that are just waiting for their chance to shine. Personally I still find very little to enjoy out of these communities, probably due in no small part to that one time I caught a Ninja stream, (never again) but I'll bet there's a whole market of folk soon to discover that watching folk play video games isn't quite as boring as it sounds. At least not to them. I still find it a little boring.
In the ideal world this would be the birth of a new age of mainstream understanding, but I'm also a pessimist so I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't become the case. But even if this year of gaming supporting the traditional sports community gets entirely written off as an anomalous fluke of history, at least the precedent will have been lain, and perhaps that's enough. In these times of lockdown people often forget how important a little bit of entertainment can be in order to relieve some stress, take it from a guy who's currently undergoing the effects of a mild psychotic break himself. (It sucks and I hate it.) but this still doesn't mean that Gamestop is an essential service, stop it guys.
Well, over here in England our head of state has formally threatened to arrest all those who go outside unnecessarily, so I feel it's safe to say that our lockdown is in full effect. These are the same sorts of measures that are starting to pop up all over the globe and as a result the usual day-to-day of our lives is slowly becoming distorted. Suddenly everyone is being expected to keep themselves entertained in doors, which may be business-as-usual for some of us out here but for others this is proving a true test of wills. Some folk have the right idea it would seem, as Steam recently reported their highest concurrent user days of all time (with highs in the 20 millions), but others are spending their days on Amazon or eBay paying through the nose for price gouged family board games. (Or you could pay £15 for tabletop simulator. But what do I know, right?)
In this brave new minimally physical world, two things have become clear. Firstly, that Supergirl's current anti-VR season isn't just terribly written and woefully uninformed, but also excessively dated; and secondly, that gaming can be the solution to a lot of folk's current woes. (Is that my second Supergirl reference in a month? I need help.) By that latter statement I mean to say that there is not necessarily a need to cancel every single event of the year if the digital world of gaming has the infrastructure to accommodate for you. Afterall, just look at Poland. Over there the government has followed the lead of their many peers by shutting down all schools and public services, but they've made up the time to keep kids entertained (and educated?) with a country-wide Minecraft Server. (Wow, MCProHosting must have hit the big leagues!) This initiative, dubbed 'Grarantana', intends to keep students of all ages hooked to building virtual creations on a plot instead of outside being delinquents and spreading their viruses.
This isn't a precedent limited to the Polish either. Back when sports events started to get cancelled, there was a growing contingent of folk who called out for alternatives to be implemented. Afterall, when you shape your entire life and personality around your fandom of a regular sports event it can be rather daunting to be forced into going a year without. one of the more 'out there' ideas has been using those 'official' sports games that are the bane of the entire gaming industry in order to simulate matches. But that's crazy right? That'll never happen! And it probably won't. But there was an exhibition NBA match that was held between two representative players for the delight of a live-streamed audience. Yes, that actually happened.
But that isn't even all. Just recently there was a NASCAR event that was streamed to homes around the world that even Dale Earnhardt Jr. came out of retirement in order to take part in. And yes, fitting the theme of this blog it was event that was held completely within a game. The 'Virtual Homestead' race was conducted by providing all the racers with a professional racing set-up and allowing them to all take part from the safe isolation of their homes. The streamed footage, meanwhile, was held in a spectator mode which perfectly mirrored the sorts of angles that you'd get from an official event whilst risking the exposure of no camera men. The whole event was also commentated upon by real commentators who all managed to treat the event with some seriousness despite the whole scenario, leading to a race that even hardcore veteran NASCAR fans concluded was: serviceable.
So perhaps out of quarantine could spring some new level of understanding between the mainstream and the world of gaming, as more and more people come to see the benefits of the medium. Of course, I doubt that gaming will ever be used for anything other than exhibition rounds of a certain sport, as otherwise it would remove the physical prowess aspect from the respective sport, but in times like this even that helps nurture a hungry community. If this habit were to catch on even more we may even make it to the point where virtual matches find their way into the everyday, once we've moved out of social isolation and lockdown. Perhaps then some of the wind will have be knocked out of the sails of the next politician who tries to use gaming as a whipping boy whenever they want to distract from a real world issue. (Wouldn't that be a novelty?)
Of course, this isn't the cure-all solution to every single delayed sporting event. After all not long ago the IOC's Dick Pound announced how it was likely that the Olympics could be delayed until 2021. (Yes, that is his real name.) Now sure, I would recommend that they simply just throw all the athletes into 'Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games' but something tells me that our Greek forebearers might spin in their graves slightly at such a proposition. But with sports that aren't so tightly linked with hundreds of years worth of history, why not? Heck a year of virtual matches could ultimately turn out to be one of the most expectation shattering years of sports history ever. (I'll bet even Biff's almanac couldn't have forseen this! But then, that book only went to the year 2000, so I guess that's a given.)
In the meanwhile, expect a year wherein E-sports grows more than it ever has in popularity, as sports bets aficionado's have to risk their cash somewhere. Some of the bigger and more public events might be getting scaled down, but it would be ridiculous for them to receive the same 'blanket ban' treatment that traditional sports is getting. That goes doubly true considering that this is set to be the year of Overwatch 2 and has already seen the drop of 'Call of Duty: Warzone'; those are E-sports darlings that are just waiting for their chance to shine. Personally I still find very little to enjoy out of these communities, probably due in no small part to that one time I caught a Ninja stream, (never again) but I'll bet there's a whole market of folk soon to discover that watching folk play video games isn't quite as boring as it sounds. At least not to them. I still find it a little boring.
In the ideal world this would be the birth of a new age of mainstream understanding, but I'm also a pessimist so I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't become the case. But even if this year of gaming supporting the traditional sports community gets entirely written off as an anomalous fluke of history, at least the precedent will have been lain, and perhaps that's enough. In these times of lockdown people often forget how important a little bit of entertainment can be in order to relieve some stress, take it from a guy who's currently undergoing the effects of a mild psychotic break himself. (It sucks and I hate it.) but this still doesn't mean that Gamestop is an essential service, stop it guys.
Thursday, 19 March 2020
World on Lockdown
Canto Della Verbena
Oh, I tell you stuff that you already know too much on this blog? Well here's a doozy then; the world's on lockdown! (Wait, you knew that too? damn...)The Covid-19 outbreak, which I can now officially refer as an epidemic (Thanks: whoever is in charge of how spooked everyone is!) has resulted in a ludicrous amount of delays and concessions across the whole world. Folk all over are now practising the noble art of social distancing (Nice luck getting as good as me, guys. I've had years of practice) and people are finding themselves being ordered to stay inside in order to keep safe. Those who are forced to leave the sanctity of self isolation early, usually come to stock up on supplies like this is some end of world scenario, and come kitted out with face masks as though this is an airborne contagion which, by-the-by, I'm fairly certain it isn't. The only thing that mask will save you from is if someone infected literally coughs in your face and even then it's still going to get in your eyes. (I'm sorry, I'm just sick of seeing those damn masks everywhere... What is this, Japan?)
As people spend more and more time on the indoors they are forced to partake less in outdoor activities and more with the indoor ones. That means no more going to the movies in order to sit in a dark room with a bevy of potentially infected strangers, (Leading to the delay of several movies and the bombing of every movie who refused to budge) no more huge city-wide events and gatherings like parades and the like (Unless you live in Germany, because apparently they know something we don't) and a lot more video calls into your company whilst you receive some work-from-home time. (Unless they can't facilitate that, in which case you can bet they'll still drag you in, Covid or no.) And just to make matters worse, it seems that even our immortal celebrities aren't immune to the hand of the virus any longer. Tom Hanks was diagnosed with the virus not so long back and England's own Idris Elba received a similar diagnosis. (Good lord. I guess this is real serious now!) In such dark and desperate times I feel it behooves us to just forget about everything else and do what god intended, stay up late and play videogames.
I mean, why not? If you've got the games and the time, now is the perfect time to catch up on all those titles you missed out on back in the day. And because of the constant worldwide production shutdowns that are occurring, next year will be the perfect year to catch up on all those TV shows that you've missed out on over the years (because there's going to be literally nothing on to watch.) Today's collective quarantine may be bad news for the movie going world (and the movie news world, as all the news is just about cancellations) but this is nectar for the gaming world and I'm sure many company's are rubbing their hand together thinking of the record sales days to come. (Except for Obsidian, who have delayed their Switch launch of Outer Worlds for some reason.) 'DOOM Eternal' is likely going to do gang busters when it lands tomorrow and next month's Resident Evil 3 and Final Fantasy 7 practically have themselves a shoe in for healthy sales. (Good thing too. All those games deserve it.)
There have been some instances, however, where the opportunity to swoop in and take advantage of this surprise free-time abundance has been a little too overwhelming to fully exploit. At least, that's the only excuse I can think of to explain the mind-mindbogglingly dumb situation that has affected the NBA 2K20 world. For those who haven't heard, the real-life National Basketball Association has decided to halt it's season early amid cries from uppity players who 'refuse to play in empty stadiums.' (Not that I blame them, I just think it's funny that's where they draw the line. Risk of getting Corona? No that's fine. But empty stadiums? Imma throw a tantrum right here!) Such a situation would encourage basketball fans to take their Basketball time to the digital world instead, maybe even make use of that game's simulated mode to imitate the results that they might have seen if the matches had gone ahead. But that would have been a mistake.
You see, as soon as booting up the simulated match mode, which traditionally reads the stats and match-ups that are planned in the real world, the API apparently enters an infinite loop because whatever third party information source it relies on is currently reading blank. What results is a bunch of buffering, not much loading, and eventually a CTD for the user. (Outstanding programming guys!) Now, immediately this has drawn parallels to WWE 2K20 which famously broke down on January 1st because the developers apparently didn't think to code their game to account for the change in decade, prompting the game's new nickname; Y2K20. There are, to be fair, some key differences here. Namely, that WWE's bug was caused by plain unadulterated incompetence whilst this one is due to a unforeseeable world event, but this does betray how fragile these systems are, doesn't it? Sports games certainly aren't built to last these days.
Since then the bug has been fixed and everything is back to business as usual. 2K have patched the system to work purely off of planned matches going forward until those run out; then, who knows. The majority of the industry, however, are currently thriving in this activity vacuum and I do find that rather encouraging for my favourite pastime. Nioh 2, for example, seems to be tracking pretty well for it's first few days, even though it released as a Playstation timed exclusive again (Sony are really starting to become one-trick ponies these days, huh.) and Ori and the Will of the Wisps in enjoying some attention. Not to say that these titles wouldn't have done well under normal circumstances, but a little more success than usual is never something to scoff at.
I do fear for what this will mean in the near future, however, once all the big titles that have been announced drop and we're left with all the games that should have been announced this year but didn't get their stage. I've mentioned it before, but literally every gaming press event has been cancelled in the last couple of weeks and that's completely shot the marketing cycle for a lot of games. I mean, don't get me wrong, the big hitters will be fine. Sony have their own live show, Microsoft is following suit and Bethesda will probably piggyback off of that since the rumour is that this year will be the big info drop on the long awaited Starfield. (I don't care about Ubisoft.) But the smaller guys haven't really got a recourse, and that saddens me a little. (Don't tell me Soulstorm is going to be delayed! I've waited so long...)
So this is the state of a world in lockdown, general disarray everywhere but a temporary boost to the videogame market. The months to come are surely going to prove trying for everyone as we scrounge to the ends of the earth to find those precious last rolls of toilet paper, but at least we'll have a steady stream of exciting titles to keep us busy in the meanwhile. until then it's important to remember the basics like, don't panic, practise proper basic hygiene, and stop buying 2K products, seriously what the hell is wrong with you people? Here's hoping that everything clears up in the months to come and people stop callously hoarding for no reason. And I'm serious about that, there is literally no reason. What are you hoarding for? Do you really believe this is Armageddon? Because if it is, then don't you think you need a bit more to survive than toilet paper? If the world is literally about to end then here's an idea, just die! If you don't have what it takes to survive in a post apocalyptic hellscape then what's the point of hoarding supplies? To prolong your life just that little bit longer, whilst making yourself a target for folk to come and take it from you? Seriously, what is the endgame for you people? I just feel like no one ever thinks a potential apocalypse through whilst that's literally all that goes through my head everyday. Hmm... I'm rambling? Oh right, I should probably just stop writing now...
Oh, I tell you stuff that you already know too much on this blog? Well here's a doozy then; the world's on lockdown! (Wait, you knew that too? damn...)The Covid-19 outbreak, which I can now officially refer as an epidemic (Thanks: whoever is in charge of how spooked everyone is!) has resulted in a ludicrous amount of delays and concessions across the whole world. Folk all over are now practising the noble art of social distancing (Nice luck getting as good as me, guys. I've had years of practice) and people are finding themselves being ordered to stay inside in order to keep safe. Those who are forced to leave the sanctity of self isolation early, usually come to stock up on supplies like this is some end of world scenario, and come kitted out with face masks as though this is an airborne contagion which, by-the-by, I'm fairly certain it isn't. The only thing that mask will save you from is if someone infected literally coughs in your face and even then it's still going to get in your eyes. (I'm sorry, I'm just sick of seeing those damn masks everywhere... What is this, Japan?)
As people spend more and more time on the indoors they are forced to partake less in outdoor activities and more with the indoor ones. That means no more going to the movies in order to sit in a dark room with a bevy of potentially infected strangers, (Leading to the delay of several movies and the bombing of every movie who refused to budge) no more huge city-wide events and gatherings like parades and the like (Unless you live in Germany, because apparently they know something we don't) and a lot more video calls into your company whilst you receive some work-from-home time. (Unless they can't facilitate that, in which case you can bet they'll still drag you in, Covid or no.) And just to make matters worse, it seems that even our immortal celebrities aren't immune to the hand of the virus any longer. Tom Hanks was diagnosed with the virus not so long back and England's own Idris Elba received a similar diagnosis. (Good lord. I guess this is real serious now!) In such dark and desperate times I feel it behooves us to just forget about everything else and do what god intended, stay up late and play videogames.
I mean, why not? If you've got the games and the time, now is the perfect time to catch up on all those titles you missed out on back in the day. And because of the constant worldwide production shutdowns that are occurring, next year will be the perfect year to catch up on all those TV shows that you've missed out on over the years (because there's going to be literally nothing on to watch.) Today's collective quarantine may be bad news for the movie going world (and the movie news world, as all the news is just about cancellations) but this is nectar for the gaming world and I'm sure many company's are rubbing their hand together thinking of the record sales days to come. (Except for Obsidian, who have delayed their Switch launch of Outer Worlds for some reason.) 'DOOM Eternal' is likely going to do gang busters when it lands tomorrow and next month's Resident Evil 3 and Final Fantasy 7 practically have themselves a shoe in for healthy sales. (Good thing too. All those games deserve it.)
There have been some instances, however, where the opportunity to swoop in and take advantage of this surprise free-time abundance has been a little too overwhelming to fully exploit. At least, that's the only excuse I can think of to explain the mind-mindbogglingly dumb situation that has affected the NBA 2K20 world. For those who haven't heard, the real-life National Basketball Association has decided to halt it's season early amid cries from uppity players who 'refuse to play in empty stadiums.' (Not that I blame them, I just think it's funny that's where they draw the line. Risk of getting Corona? No that's fine. But empty stadiums? Imma throw a tantrum right here!) Such a situation would encourage basketball fans to take their Basketball time to the digital world instead, maybe even make use of that game's simulated mode to imitate the results that they might have seen if the matches had gone ahead. But that would have been a mistake.
You see, as soon as booting up the simulated match mode, which traditionally reads the stats and match-ups that are planned in the real world, the API apparently enters an infinite loop because whatever third party information source it relies on is currently reading blank. What results is a bunch of buffering, not much loading, and eventually a CTD for the user. (Outstanding programming guys!) Now, immediately this has drawn parallels to WWE 2K20 which famously broke down on January 1st because the developers apparently didn't think to code their game to account for the change in decade, prompting the game's new nickname; Y2K20. There are, to be fair, some key differences here. Namely, that WWE's bug was caused by plain unadulterated incompetence whilst this one is due to a unforeseeable world event, but this does betray how fragile these systems are, doesn't it? Sports games certainly aren't built to last these days.
Since then the bug has been fixed and everything is back to business as usual. 2K have patched the system to work purely off of planned matches going forward until those run out; then, who knows. The majority of the industry, however, are currently thriving in this activity vacuum and I do find that rather encouraging for my favourite pastime. Nioh 2, for example, seems to be tracking pretty well for it's first few days, even though it released as a Playstation timed exclusive again (Sony are really starting to become one-trick ponies these days, huh.) and Ori and the Will of the Wisps in enjoying some attention. Not to say that these titles wouldn't have done well under normal circumstances, but a little more success than usual is never something to scoff at.
I do fear for what this will mean in the near future, however, once all the big titles that have been announced drop and we're left with all the games that should have been announced this year but didn't get their stage. I've mentioned it before, but literally every gaming press event has been cancelled in the last couple of weeks and that's completely shot the marketing cycle for a lot of games. I mean, don't get me wrong, the big hitters will be fine. Sony have their own live show, Microsoft is following suit and Bethesda will probably piggyback off of that since the rumour is that this year will be the big info drop on the long awaited Starfield. (I don't care about Ubisoft.) But the smaller guys haven't really got a recourse, and that saddens me a little. (Don't tell me Soulstorm is going to be delayed! I've waited so long...)
So this is the state of a world in lockdown, general disarray everywhere but a temporary boost to the videogame market. The months to come are surely going to prove trying for everyone as we scrounge to the ends of the earth to find those precious last rolls of toilet paper, but at least we'll have a steady stream of exciting titles to keep us busy in the meanwhile. until then it's important to remember the basics like, don't panic, practise proper basic hygiene, and stop buying 2K products, seriously what the hell is wrong with you people? Here's hoping that everything clears up in the months to come and people stop callously hoarding for no reason. And I'm serious about that, there is literally no reason. What are you hoarding for? Do you really believe this is Armageddon? Because if it is, then don't you think you need a bit more to survive than toilet paper? If the world is literally about to end then here's an idea, just die! If you don't have what it takes to survive in a post apocalyptic hellscape then what's the point of hoarding supplies? To prolong your life just that little bit longer, whilst making yourself a target for folk to come and take it from you? Seriously, what is the endgame for you people? I just feel like no one ever thinks a potential apocalypse through whilst that's literally all that goes through my head everyday. Hmm... I'm rambling? Oh right, I should probably just stop writing now...
Thursday, 10 October 2019
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-China
Warning: If you are a member of the Chinese government; there is nothing to see here, carry on.
I hold a considerable amount of respect for the particular type of activism posited by the gaming community. Whenever we are faced with an unfair or unjust scenario, we have a tendency to speak out and fight back against the offending organizations in the places that hurt them most. Of course, sometimes in our fervour our sights can get a little off-target, but recently we've reached the point where we can affect actual change with enough support from our end. This way we have been able to prove to gaming companies that ours is a voice to be heard and that we have real power in the decision process. Almost every fight that the collective gaming community has fought have been ones that it is feasible to win. However, I find myself doubting whether that is the case with this new foe that has earned the ire of gamers. That is because this week, gamers have rallied against the most powerful country in the actual real world, 'the People's Republic' of China.
Maybe you've caught wind about this in snippets and thought; "Wow, China's in the news a lot recently. I wonder if it's all related?" To which the answer is yes, it all very much is. That is why it can be hard to explain everything in a cohesive manner. Nevertheless, I will try and promptly fail, so bear with me. (Oh, and a lot of this is general world news, so if I get some details wrong blame it on my disposition against watching TV news. BBC makes my eyes bleed.) Very basically; there was a 19 year old man who was vacationing in Taiwan and ended up murdering his pregnant girlfriend. (Gruesome, I know, but this is only the background right now.) He ended up fleeing to Hong Kong before being arrested by police. Taiwanese officials then asked for the man to be extradited back to their country, however this could not be achieved due to the lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries. A bill was drawn up; however, Taiwan, which is treated as a puppet-state by China, added a clause that would rope China in and allow them to enforce a lot of their imposing censorship laws upon Hong Kong and extradite anyone to the mainland for punishments.
At this point, the specifics of the story go into the background of Hong Kong as a city, and the weird area it sits in as an independent entity and another extension of China. This goes back to 1997, at least, when Hong Kong was transferred from British rule over to China after an expiration date, and likely a lot further back with all kinds of backroom dealings. I'm no expert of all the minute details happening over there, but I am a believer in personal freedoms and understand that surrendering more control to the most powerful tyrant in the world is a good way to lose those freedoms.
The people of Hong Kong rallied against the bill and took to the streets in order to voice their displeasure on the world stage. That is the state of strife that has existed in Hong Kong for the past few months now, and despite the time that has elapsed in which the government could have killed the potential China deal, not enough has changed and the riots are still getting worse. Very recently a protester was shot and wounded by the police, and this is just the beginning of how bad the situation could end up. I don't intend to incite any undue fears, but the Chinese government do have a history of dealing with protests in a very brutal fashion. Remember the Tienanmen Square massacre that definitely happened? China says it didn't.
But what does any of this have to do with gaming? Well, I'm glad you asked. You see, there is this little game that goes by the name of Hearthstone; it has a modest following and even boasts some competitions with quaint prize pools. Okay I'm being facetious, Hearthstone grandmaster tournaments are some of the biggest events in E-Sports and have some of the grandest prizes. For those that like such things, I.e. not me, your yearly highlight is likely these legendary card game matches that are sponsored by Blizzard themselves. This is probably the reason why the livestreams that broadcast these events pull in millions of eyes from all over the world, all fans excited to see the best of the best duke it out for extensive prize pools.
One such contender was a fellow who goes by the name; Blitzchung. I will admit that I am unfamiliar with this man or his style, but he was good enough to win some prize money through these events so I'm sure he had some sort of following prior to last week's conundrum. What conundrum? Oh, just the livestreamed interview with Blitzchung that ended with him donning a gasmask and speaking these words in Mandarin: "Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age." Hailing from Hong Kong, Blitzchung expressed how his involvement in the movement back home had got in the way of his Hearthstone preparation and he felt it was his duty to spread the word about Hong Kong on the biggest platform that he could.
The consequences were swift and harsh. Blizzard promptly removed Blitzchung from their Grandmaster tournament, seized his prize winnings and banned him from the tournament for a full year. They also thought it prudent to fire the two commentators who were present for the message and who ducked under their table when he spoke. Apparently Blizzard had concluded they must be involved due to one declaring "Say the eight words and then we'll end the interview" before his declaration. In explanation of their actions, Blizzard cited a vague clause in their TOS about 'not bringing dispute upon oneself or Blizzard' before calling it a day.
This, understandably, left a whole number of people very confused as to what just happened, and more importantly, why? The man was a citizen of Hong Kong, after all, so why would an American Company take a hard line stance about him making a political statement related to his home? Sure, they could be dissatisfied about being used as someone's platform on Blizzard's Stream, but that would only warrant a slap on the wrist, not this salt-the-earth approach. Well, the answer is quiet simple, really. Prepare thyself for business talk.
You see, Activision was bought by Vivendi back in 2008 in order to merge their subsidiary, Vivendi games, with Activision's subsidiary, Blizzard, so that they could benefit off the success of World of Warcraft. In 2013 Activision Blizzard announced their plans to buy back their shares from Vivendi and become independent, however they would need a considerable pool of money for that. Luckily, like Satan himself, Chinese company Tencent swooped in and funded the transition for an undisclosed amount. To this day, Tencent still hold 5% of Activision Blizzard's soul- I mean, stock.
In the years that have followed, Activision Blizzard have held a close, exclusive, relationship with China. Even releasing a Chinese exclusive Free-to-play version of Call of Duty which had a crappy Battle Royale system back before even Fortnite was a thing. It shouldn't come as any surprise, then, that Blizzard would be willing to censor China's attempt to seize control of Hong Kong without a moment's hesitation. "But isn't that a little bit conspiratorial? Why would the Chinese government use one of their private companies' influence to silence dissent on their political actions? I mean, I know that their censorship is legendary, but this would be taking that concept a bit far." Well, if you don't believe me, just take a look at another example of this very same thing that happened in the same week. (Amazingly.)
NBA (The real one, not 2K's travesty of a game series) has always been as big in China as it is in America. In fact, some hopeful players have come from the scene in China to America in order to make it big. The populace enjoy it too, with matches and official merch being provided to their millions of Chinese fans due to a very lucrative partnership between sports companies who's names I don't care enough to look up. That harmony came into question, however, when the manager of NBA's Houston Rockets sent out an image on his private twitter account reading "Fight for freedom, Stand with Hong Kong."
This fallout was even more apocalyptic than the Hearthstone's. The tweet was deleted in hours with the manager issuing an apology shortly afterwords. CTrip, China's biggest online travel website, burned all of their NBA related tickets and travel products; Dicos, a Chinese fast-food chain, suspended all marketing and publicity activities and Wzun, a skin care brand, straight-up cancelled all of their cooperation with the NBA. (That one was probably for the best. Who the heck wants skincare products with Dennis Rodman's face on them?) Then there came a slew of public statements from big NBA stars which amounted to little more than kowtowing as spineless spokespeople rattled through a laundry list of things they love about China whilst mentioning how deplorable the manager was. Rumor has it that he's going to be on the chopping block too in the next couple of days. (He and Blitzchung should start a band.)
All that is pretty wild anyway; but, believe it or not, there was yet another issue of international censorship last week, although this one came from a very likely source; South Park. Matt Stone and Trey Parker's comedy series is well known for causing controversy with it's irreverent satire and often poe-faced commentary; and their latest episode: 'Band in China' was no different. (They should win an Oscar for the title alone.) In the episode, Randy Marsh decides to expand his new business, 'Tegrity farms, into an untapped market with plenty of potential customers; China. Unfortunately, Randy's business produces and sells Cannabis, which is highly illegal in China. He finds himself being thrown into a Chinese work camp, get tortured relentlessly and have Piglet and Winnie the Pooh as prison mates. (Current Chinese dictat- I mean, President- Xi Jinping is very sensitive to the fact that people compare him to Winnie the Pooh. As such, the regime has banned Winnie the Pooh in the whole country. I'm not joking.)
The B-Story follows the children as they start a band (again), only to have a manager come in and tell them to change a lot of their act in order to better fit the Chinese market. (Holding a mirror to the way that American companies capitulate to the demands/whims of Chinese audiences. Just look at the cringeworthy China-only additions to Iron Man 3 to see what I mean.) Predictably, the episode ended up being banned in China. Actually, the entire show was completely erased from Chinese Internet sources. Forums, social media, and streaming sites were scrubbed of all mention of 'South Park'. Matt and Trey noticed all this (and were likely expecting it) so they took to the show's twitter page to issue a statement. (I wish I knew how to insert Tweets, but I'll just quote it.) "Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look just like Winnie the Pooh at all! Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?”
With all this context is mind, suddenly the Blizzard situation doesn't look so crazy, but that doesn't make it all any less disgraceful. Everyone who's anyone has started to voice their displeasure at Blizzard for bowing to the Chinese government, and you can bet that Reddit is the battleground for a lot of it. The forum had to be temporarily shut down due to the influx of messages, but is has since returned with all the memes, rants and denouncements that you would expect. (Including the beautiful image below that was posted by one u/Lawlow_lofi.) People want Blizzard to know that they are disgusted with their actions and stand by Blitzchung in solidarity (although I have noticed that the majority of this movement seems to be directed rage towards Blizzard rather than support for Hong Kong.)
Even people outside of the consumer market have weighed in, although not always verbally. Outside of Blizzard's office the company has a garish black statue that features the companies' values engraved into the floor. Some unknown Blizzard Devs, who seemingly disapproved of the removal of Blitzchung, stuck paper covering over the plaques that once read "Think Globally" and "Every Voice Matters". Even none games-industry folk have started to weigh in. United States Senator Ron Wyden tweeted; "Blizzard shows it is willing to humiliate itself to please the Chinese Communist Party. No American company should censor calls for freedom to make a quick buck." and Marco Rubio echoed similar sentiments. Does this classify as an international incident yet?
The general feeling, right now, seems to be that; those who support Blizzard are indirectly supporting the Chinese regime, and it honestly does feel that way. Many Hearthstone Vets are announcing that they're walking away from the game in disgust and Overwatch and WoW players are slowly picking up on the trend too. Modern Warfare fans seem to have completely ignored the fact that they are contributing too, (Activision and Blizzard are partners) but they already had to deal with the 'Survival mode' controversy last month, if they had to take anything else into account their brains might just explode!
All of this may not last longer than a week, except for those with a history for holding a grudge. (like me) But until the white hot fervour cools down and everyone goes back to pretending none of this happened, consumers are fighting dirtier than I ever seen. By far my favourite act of defiance has been people painting fan art of Chinese Overwatch character Mei as a symbol of the rebellion. Blizzard's Overwatch is a huge source of revenue for the company, and it's one of the few games that is allowed to be sold in China completely unchanged. (PUBG was re-named 'Games of Peace' and forced to take out the blood and rework all death animations to show players getting up and waving.) Protesters, realizing this, have drawn Mei wearing the banned gasmasks that represent the protests and donning pro Hong Kong attire. The ends of this is to turn Mei into a symbol of the protest, thus invoking the wrath of Chinese censors and forcing them to ban Overwatch in China, kicking Blizzard's bottom line right in the unmentionables. Now that's playing dirty and I absolutely love it! (Above image from u/Fish-IP)
Ultimately, I'm proud of the gaming community for taking a stand against these repressive practises, even if I think that it's an argument we'll never win. China is one of the most profitable markets in the world and arguably the most influential, what they say goes and the rest of the world are powerless, or unwilling, to stand up to them. We're talking about a regime that has been complicit with untold amounts of on-record Human Rights violations in direct response to it's own one-child policy alone, and has now introduced a two-child policy to start the cycle all over again. A regime that butchered people in one of the most brutal police actions in recorded history, (I'm talking about Tienanmen Square) and then just pretended that it didn't happen. A country who's President, Winnie JinPooh, decided to make himself president-for-life, and no world leader so much as batted an eye. I've often semi-joked about how Disney will be the first corporation to become a world-ruling sovereign entity, well, China's already half way there. They have the power and will to do whatever they want, however they want, and a small-scale, likely short-lived, consumer revolt isn't going to make them think twice. It's a fight that us gamers have no chance of winning. But I've watched enough Anime to know, that doesn't mean it's not a fight worth having.
I hold a considerable amount of respect for the particular type of activism posited by the gaming community. Whenever we are faced with an unfair or unjust scenario, we have a tendency to speak out and fight back against the offending organizations in the places that hurt them most. Of course, sometimes in our fervour our sights can get a little off-target, but recently we've reached the point where we can affect actual change with enough support from our end. This way we have been able to prove to gaming companies that ours is a voice to be heard and that we have real power in the decision process. Almost every fight that the collective gaming community has fought have been ones that it is feasible to win. However, I find myself doubting whether that is the case with this new foe that has earned the ire of gamers. That is because this week, gamers have rallied against the most powerful country in the actual real world, 'the People's Republic' of China.
Maybe you've caught wind about this in snippets and thought; "Wow, China's in the news a lot recently. I wonder if it's all related?" To which the answer is yes, it all very much is. That is why it can be hard to explain everything in a cohesive manner. Nevertheless, I will try and promptly fail, so bear with me. (Oh, and a lot of this is general world news, so if I get some details wrong blame it on my disposition against watching TV news. BBC makes my eyes bleed.) Very basically; there was a 19 year old man who was vacationing in Taiwan and ended up murdering his pregnant girlfriend. (Gruesome, I know, but this is only the background right now.) He ended up fleeing to Hong Kong before being arrested by police. Taiwanese officials then asked for the man to be extradited back to their country, however this could not be achieved due to the lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries. A bill was drawn up; however, Taiwan, which is treated as a puppet-state by China, added a clause that would rope China in and allow them to enforce a lot of their imposing censorship laws upon Hong Kong and extradite anyone to the mainland for punishments.
At this point, the specifics of the story go into the background of Hong Kong as a city, and the weird area it sits in as an independent entity and another extension of China. This goes back to 1997, at least, when Hong Kong was transferred from British rule over to China after an expiration date, and likely a lot further back with all kinds of backroom dealings. I'm no expert of all the minute details happening over there, but I am a believer in personal freedoms and understand that surrendering more control to the most powerful tyrant in the world is a good way to lose those freedoms.
But what does any of this have to do with gaming? Well, I'm glad you asked. You see, there is this little game that goes by the name of Hearthstone; it has a modest following and even boasts some competitions with quaint prize pools. Okay I'm being facetious, Hearthstone grandmaster tournaments are some of the biggest events in E-Sports and have some of the grandest prizes. For those that like such things, I.e. not me, your yearly highlight is likely these legendary card game matches that are sponsored by Blizzard themselves. This is probably the reason why the livestreams that broadcast these events pull in millions of eyes from all over the world, all fans excited to see the best of the best duke it out for extensive prize pools.
One such contender was a fellow who goes by the name; Blitzchung. I will admit that I am unfamiliar with this man or his style, but he was good enough to win some prize money through these events so I'm sure he had some sort of following prior to last week's conundrum. What conundrum? Oh, just the livestreamed interview with Blitzchung that ended with him donning a gasmask and speaking these words in Mandarin: "Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age." Hailing from Hong Kong, Blitzchung expressed how his involvement in the movement back home had got in the way of his Hearthstone preparation and he felt it was his duty to spread the word about Hong Kong on the biggest platform that he could.
The consequences were swift and harsh. Blizzard promptly removed Blitzchung from their Grandmaster tournament, seized his prize winnings and banned him from the tournament for a full year. They also thought it prudent to fire the two commentators who were present for the message and who ducked under their table when he spoke. Apparently Blizzard had concluded they must be involved due to one declaring "Say the eight words and then we'll end the interview" before his declaration. In explanation of their actions, Blizzard cited a vague clause in their TOS about 'not bringing dispute upon oneself or Blizzard' before calling it a day.
This, understandably, left a whole number of people very confused as to what just happened, and more importantly, why? The man was a citizen of Hong Kong, after all, so why would an American Company take a hard line stance about him making a political statement related to his home? Sure, they could be dissatisfied about being used as someone's platform on Blizzard's Stream, but that would only warrant a slap on the wrist, not this salt-the-earth approach. Well, the answer is quiet simple, really. Prepare thyself for business talk.
You see, Activision was bought by Vivendi back in 2008 in order to merge their subsidiary, Vivendi games, with Activision's subsidiary, Blizzard, so that they could benefit off the success of World of Warcraft. In 2013 Activision Blizzard announced their plans to buy back their shares from Vivendi and become independent, however they would need a considerable pool of money for that. Luckily, like Satan himself, Chinese company Tencent swooped in and funded the transition for an undisclosed amount. To this day, Tencent still hold 5% of Activision Blizzard's soul- I mean, stock.
In the years that have followed, Activision Blizzard have held a close, exclusive, relationship with China. Even releasing a Chinese exclusive Free-to-play version of Call of Duty which had a crappy Battle Royale system back before even Fortnite was a thing. It shouldn't come as any surprise, then, that Blizzard would be willing to censor China's attempt to seize control of Hong Kong without a moment's hesitation. "But isn't that a little bit conspiratorial? Why would the Chinese government use one of their private companies' influence to silence dissent on their political actions? I mean, I know that their censorship is legendary, but this would be taking that concept a bit far." Well, if you don't believe me, just take a look at another example of this very same thing that happened in the same week. (Amazingly.)
NBA (The real one, not 2K's travesty of a game series) has always been as big in China as it is in America. In fact, some hopeful players have come from the scene in China to America in order to make it big. The populace enjoy it too, with matches and official merch being provided to their millions of Chinese fans due to a very lucrative partnership between sports companies who's names I don't care enough to look up. That harmony came into question, however, when the manager of NBA's Houston Rockets sent out an image on his private twitter account reading "Fight for freedom, Stand with Hong Kong."
This fallout was even more apocalyptic than the Hearthstone's. The tweet was deleted in hours with the manager issuing an apology shortly afterwords. CTrip, China's biggest online travel website, burned all of their NBA related tickets and travel products; Dicos, a Chinese fast-food chain, suspended all marketing and publicity activities and Wzun, a skin care brand, straight-up cancelled all of their cooperation with the NBA. (That one was probably for the best. Who the heck wants skincare products with Dennis Rodman's face on them?) Then there came a slew of public statements from big NBA stars which amounted to little more than kowtowing as spineless spokespeople rattled through a laundry list of things they love about China whilst mentioning how deplorable the manager was. Rumor has it that he's going to be on the chopping block too in the next couple of days. (He and Blitzchung should start a band.)
All that is pretty wild anyway; but, believe it or not, there was yet another issue of international censorship last week, although this one came from a very likely source; South Park. Matt Stone and Trey Parker's comedy series is well known for causing controversy with it's irreverent satire and often poe-faced commentary; and their latest episode: 'Band in China' was no different. (They should win an Oscar for the title alone.) In the episode, Randy Marsh decides to expand his new business, 'Tegrity farms, into an untapped market with plenty of potential customers; China. Unfortunately, Randy's business produces and sells Cannabis, which is highly illegal in China. He finds himself being thrown into a Chinese work camp, get tortured relentlessly and have Piglet and Winnie the Pooh as prison mates. (Current Chinese dictat- I mean, President- Xi Jinping is very sensitive to the fact that people compare him to Winnie the Pooh. As such, the regime has banned Winnie the Pooh in the whole country. I'm not joking.)
The B-Story follows the children as they start a band (again), only to have a manager come in and tell them to change a lot of their act in order to better fit the Chinese market. (Holding a mirror to the way that American companies capitulate to the demands/whims of Chinese audiences. Just look at the cringeworthy China-only additions to Iron Man 3 to see what I mean.) Predictably, the episode ended up being banned in China. Actually, the entire show was completely erased from Chinese Internet sources. Forums, social media, and streaming sites were scrubbed of all mention of 'South Park'. Matt and Trey noticed all this (and were likely expecting it) so they took to the show's twitter page to issue a statement. (I wish I knew how to insert Tweets, but I'll just quote it.) "Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look just like Winnie the Pooh at all! Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?”
Even people outside of the consumer market have weighed in, although not always verbally. Outside of Blizzard's office the company has a garish black statue that features the companies' values engraved into the floor. Some unknown Blizzard Devs, who seemingly disapproved of the removal of Blitzchung, stuck paper covering over the plaques that once read "Think Globally" and "Every Voice Matters". Even none games-industry folk have started to weigh in. United States Senator Ron Wyden tweeted; "Blizzard shows it is willing to humiliate itself to please the Chinese Communist Party. No American company should censor calls for freedom to make a quick buck." and Marco Rubio echoed similar sentiments. Does this classify as an international incident yet?
The general feeling, right now, seems to be that; those who support Blizzard are indirectly supporting the Chinese regime, and it honestly does feel that way. Many Hearthstone Vets are announcing that they're walking away from the game in disgust and Overwatch and WoW players are slowly picking up on the trend too. Modern Warfare fans seem to have completely ignored the fact that they are contributing too, (Activision and Blizzard are partners) but they already had to deal with the 'Survival mode' controversy last month, if they had to take anything else into account their brains might just explode!
All of this may not last longer than a week, except for those with a history for holding a grudge. (like me) But until the white hot fervour cools down and everyone goes back to pretending none of this happened, consumers are fighting dirtier than I ever seen. By far my favourite act of defiance has been people painting fan art of Chinese Overwatch character Mei as a symbol of the rebellion. Blizzard's Overwatch is a huge source of revenue for the company, and it's one of the few games that is allowed to be sold in China completely unchanged. (PUBG was re-named 'Games of Peace' and forced to take out the blood and rework all death animations to show players getting up and waving.) Protesters, realizing this, have drawn Mei wearing the banned gasmasks that represent the protests and donning pro Hong Kong attire. The ends of this is to turn Mei into a symbol of the protest, thus invoking the wrath of Chinese censors and forcing them to ban Overwatch in China, kicking Blizzard's bottom line right in the unmentionables. Now that's playing dirty and I absolutely love it! (Above image from u/Fish-IP)
Ultimately, I'm proud of the gaming community for taking a stand against these repressive practises, even if I think that it's an argument we'll never win. China is one of the most profitable markets in the world and arguably the most influential, what they say goes and the rest of the world are powerless, or unwilling, to stand up to them. We're talking about a regime that has been complicit with untold amounts of on-record Human Rights violations in direct response to it's own one-child policy alone, and has now introduced a two-child policy to start the cycle all over again. A regime that butchered people in one of the most brutal police actions in recorded history, (I'm talking about Tienanmen Square) and then just pretended that it didn't happen. A country who's President, Winnie JinPooh, decided to make himself president-for-life, and no world leader so much as batted an eye. I've often semi-joked about how Disney will be the first corporation to become a world-ruling sovereign entity, well, China's already half way there. They have the power and will to do whatever they want, however they want, and a small-scale, likely short-lived, consumer revolt isn't going to make them think twice. It's a fight that us gamers have no chance of winning. But I've watched enough Anime to know, that doesn't mean it's not a fight worth having.
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