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Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California, and is a subsidiary of the American company Activision Blizzard. The company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles: Michael Morhaime, Frank Pearce and Allen Adham. The company originally concentrated on the creation of game ports for other studios' games before beginning development of their own software in 1993 with games like Rock n' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings. In 1994 the company became Chaos Studios, Inc., then Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. after being acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates.

Shortly thereafter, Blizzard released Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Blizzard created several other video games, including Warcraft sequels, the Diablo series, the StarCraft series, and in 2004 the MMORPG World of Warcraft. Their most recent projects include the first expansion for Diablo III, Reaper of Souls, the online collectible card game Hearthstone, the sixth expansion for World of Warcraft, Legion, the multiplayer online battle arena Heroes of the Storm, the third and final expansion for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Legacy of the Void, and the multiplayer first-person hero shooter Overwatch.



In 2005, Blizzard changed the name of a real cat breed, Maine Coon, in World of Warcraft into "Black Tabby," because SJWs complained about racism. Players were surprise by this patch and when they logged into their game.[1][2][3]In 2005,

Role in Gamergate

Harassment reports

On November 2, 2014, a European World of Warcraft player in Grim Batol was harassed for using a female avatar by people claiming to be Gamergate anti-corruption activists.

Morhaime statement and community response

On November 7, 2014, at the Blizzard convention Blizzcon, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime gave a statement against harassment of other players, leading to speculation that he was on some side of the Gamergate controversy. PC Gamer reported that he was talking about Gamergate, stating that "a small group of people" that are "doing really awful things and making some people's lives miserable."[4]

A discussion took place in the Battlenet forums from November 7 22:25 GMT until November 8 03:27 GMT when the thread was locked. The thread was deleted on November 9 between 16:13 and 17:30 UTC.[5]


Desalia opened the discussion with this statement, which the user community heavily downvoted:

   I'm referring to the speech at the Blizzcon opening ceremony.
   Yes, he's absolutely right that a small group of people have maliciously branded us gamers in a poor light, but it has nothing to do with those that understandably dislike the corruption in gaming journalism.
   It's a small hate group of people that believe (without any evidence) that games are corrupting the men of our community, unconsciously turning them into horrid people that hate and devalue women. Just like in the past, when people attacked gaming for causing real life violence, the idea that video games are causing misogyny is categorically and blatantly false. They're not intellectuals or pop culture critics, it's simply a hate group.
   The same hateful people that, instead of reporting death threats to the authorities, publicise these death threats (or make up) and have, in the past, asked for donations afterwards, and are profiting from the publicity. The same group that scammed people out of thousands of dollars in the past.
   Blizzard, games should ONLY be about games. Don't pander to these hate groups, that aren't even interested in games. 

Desalia would later add a comment:

   when it comes to who they should design games for, who they should listen to, they should listen to and make games for gamers, and not make them around a small demo of con artists that like hating people and pretending they're victimised.


Malikath reported getting death threats for discussing Gamergate on Twitter:

   ok, so i started looking into this last night.
   i went on my twitter account and used the hashtag and asked what was up.
   i got about 50 different replies with articles upon articles and facts buzzwords abound.
   i spent 5 hours reading it all, formulating my opinion on the subject.
   before i went to make dinner i made a polarized statement, want to know what happened next?
   hatred filled my notifications for over an hour.
   death-threats to me, my family, there were failed doxings in there too.
   so yeah, there IS a hate mob on twitter right now and they deserve to be in federal prison.
   and it's not the supporters of GamerGate, who ever opposes it is either inhuman scum or willfully ignorant IMHO.
   the sheer amount of and nature of the HATE i got for merely saying "yeah, the media is corrupt. welcome to 2002" is why I'm now pro GamerGate. 


According to Nerdic (page 21):

   Alright so i was there Day 1 when this whole GG thing happened, I didn't really care about it. However as i saw more and more news outlets saying the same thing and only having 1 side of a group on their shows rather than having both for a debate, something told me to investigate. I read articles on both sides and after about a month of this "war" i decided that GG was doing good work. A majority about 95% are decent people who invited me to play a bunch of games with them(wow included) and just hang out while talking about this whole mess. They want better ethics in gaming journalism, yet other people (who i won't name because they've been named enough within the first 6 pages of this thread) have sort of Derailed GG a bit. So recently i came out and said that i'm not on a side really, i just agree that better ethics is a good thing. The next day i get a call from my parents saying they got calls from 2 unknown people saying that "Your son is on the wrong side of history" and "Your son supports terrorism and harassment of women online" This made me go full GG because after hearing nothin but how terrible GG is and how they are harassing people and blah blah. And then to make a neutral statement and have 2 people call my parents (who aren't even involed, want nothin to do with this, and couldn't care less) is mind boggling.
   So yeah maybe there maybe trolls in GG, but the other side has done way more harm than anyone IMO. 


In response to a user mentioning Nathan Grayson and Joshua Boggs, Chamya said: (page 6)

   Why do you support a hate group? If it was a man you wouldn't be talking about this very subject. 

In reponse to a user saying "Death threats on the internet aren't a thing to be worried over. People do that all the time. Heck I get death threats all the time and I'm okay," Chamya said: (pages 7, 8, 10)

   It doesn't matter if /you/ recieve a death threat, but when a hate mob is at a women's neck then those deaths threats might come to futrition.
   My point is, You as a Man are used to death threats, You don't feel threatend with death, But when a women gets threaten especially by a hate mob the threat may come through, Men joke about death, but when man threaten's women they may act on their threats.
   Men cannot be discriminated against, they have privilege especially all the years oppressing each other/the opposite sex, sooo yeah okay in my book. 

In response to a user alleging " Gawker and friends hiding behind radical SJW's and professional victims so folks won't talk about their corruption," Chamya said: (page 9)

   You as a sexist hateful group is dead, Gamers as a identity will make ever so steps forward. Can the Mods ban these hate mongers already? 

In response to a user saying "did you just go full retard?" in a reference to the movie Tropic Thunder, Chamya said: (page 9)

   Way to use a hateful slur, reported 

In response to a user calling for equality and standing against all harassment on all sides, Chamya said: (page 11)

   IF you care about truth, and Equality you wouldn't be siding with a hate group, they're seriously worst then racist trying to stop blacks from voting, They don't want Equality they only want there hobby to exclude women, and not allow them to enjoy the same fun, Honestly I do hope this group gets arrested, thrown in jail. For all the Death threats, Doxxing, Rape threats, and everything else they have done. They're seriously making this industry worst off then it is. 

In reponse to a user who told Chamya that "Most of the harassment is coming from you weirdos," Chamya said: (page 12)

   Again harassment against you pro-ggers don't exist prove to me that you people are being harassed by people like me? You can't can you? Its because I haven't harassed a single person, but you are harassing me with slurs, and insults for voicing my views. 

In response to Malikath's post (reproduced above), Chamya called Malikath "a hate group driving innocent women from the industry." (page 15)

Chamya claimed that Boogie2988, Milo Yiannopoulos, and KingOfPol had all faked their doxxings and threats. (page 18)

Oberyn accused Chamya of posting his own character profile to 8chan to claim that 8chan had doxxed him. (page 21)

On page 22, Chamya said:

   Apologizes to gamergate folks, retract my previous statements. 

Character profile deletion

By November 8 16:00 GMT, the character profiles of Chamya and Desalia could not be displayed, suggesting that they had been banned or deleted by the users.

Related controversies

Blizzard senior editor Cate Gary liked a post by Geordie Tait calling for opponents of corruption in journalism to be gassed like the Jews in the Holocaust. Archive proof was deleted, unfortunately.

In February 2, 2017, Polygon reported that Blizzard president, Mike Morhaime, made an e-mail to the whole company which the game site got from an anonymous source and confirmed its' legitimacy. [6]

  A number of you have reached out to me about the recent U.S. executive order banning refugees and barring citizens from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days. I share the concerns that many of you, and many within our industry, have expressed. The executive order issued on Friday directly affected a small number of our employees and their families, and supporting them is a priority for us. Our HR and Legal teams are in touch with those impacted and providing travel guidance as well as legal assistance and further counseling as needed. If you need to talk to anyone about the impact of the order, please reach out to your HR partner. We’ll monitor the situation, and others, for further developments so we can continue to provide resources and support.The executive order strikes an incredibly sharp contrast with the values on which our company was founded. We are, and will always be, a company that strives for inclusion, embraces diversity, and treats one another with respect. This is the very foundation of what makes not just our company — but America — great, which is why I am so troubled by these actions. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me directly.

Cheers Love the OWL Censorship Calvary is Here

In April 2018,

Glink puts his two cents in the matter,

In April 25, 2018, Blizzard and other companies were found guilty of breaching Belgian's gambling laws, because of the loot boxes found in their popular game Overwatch.[7] Because the Belgian Gaming Commission after investigating for five months found out that some of the loot boxes, Peter Naessens, the BBGC director, observed that in a game like Overwatch, players are "tempted and misled" going further to state that "Now that it is clear that children and vulnerable people in particular are exposed to them unprotected, game manufacturers but also parties such as FIFA, for example, are called upon to call a halt to this practice."[8]


During the first showing of BlizzCon, Blizzard announced that Diablo Immortal will be a mobile game. Those in the audience were outrage, since they were waiting for a Diablo game (Mainly Diablo 4) for a long time.

A fan, name Dontinquire, who was in the audience and wearing a red shirt, then asked "Is this some out of season April Fool's day joke?" during the Q & A. It reflected what the rest of the audience was feeling about the announcement.[9]


In January 2019, a troll and his teenage friend decided to conduct what they call a "social experiment", soon a pro-Overwatch player named Ellie, who was seventeen years old, was born and became the mysterious Overwatch Contender. Despite her barely leaving a digital footprint, besides her Twitter account (The latter appeared a day after Robert "HaKu" Blohm, one of the Second Wind esport players, apologized for his past disparaging remarks about female players at his own Twitter account.[10][11] Even Nathan Grayson had high praises for the young Overwatch contender,

This would had gone on had it not been for Becca "Aspen" Rukavian (aka Cloud9), who is a streamer, put a stop to this insanity.[12][13] When Ellie quit, Nathan Grayson made a piece accusing the whole esports scene, especially the OWL, for sexism and exhibiting male dominance. Just because some of Overwatch fans are questioning Ellie's whole identity.[14] Upon learning that the doubters are right and that Ellie was just an impostor, made an article about the whole situation and a bit of why didn't Blizzard do background checks (Earlier the Second Wind and Blizzard didn't question this, because they wanted to respect Ellie's privacy).[15] Grayson even blame deadlines for his going further on investigating the Ellie situation.[16] Even Boogie tweeted against Kotaku's shoddy article.[17] To deviate and possibly distract Overwatch fans from the Ellie Overwatch League scandal, Blizzard in 2019 revealed that one of the Overwatch founders, Soldier 76 (real name: Jack Morrison) is gay, he used to be in love with a guy named Vincent. [18]

In August 2019, Blizzard Entertainment redrew eight Hearthstone cards just to comply with China.[19][20]

The World Is Worth Fighting For...Except For Hong Kong

Sometime in October 6, 2019, during a Heartstone esports interview, Blitzchung shouted "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age!" declaring support for his home country and their fight for liberty against China. As the two casters that were with him duck under the table. Taiwan Blizzard hastily killed the feed and later on deleting the VOD. That was not the only pro-Hong Kong stream that got censored, Blizzard immediately switched the American University team's "Free Hong Kong, Boycott Blizzard" sign and support to regular Hearthstone images.[21]

Later Blizzard released a statement, stating that Ng Wai Chung, aka Blitzchung, was removed immediately from the Grandmasters, won't received his prize winnings. [22][23][24][25][26] Though later on, the Collegiate Hearthstone teams were informed that there won't be anymore interviews, though they won't penalize the American University for holding up the sign. However the North Americans decided to forfeit the match and the season, stating that it's rather hypocritical of them to punish Blitzchung. [27][28] Thus making the whole ordeal be downright political way more than it seems.

During October 8, 2019, the mods of the Blizzard subreddit went private temporarily, since fans are voicing concerns about the whole banning or being outright angry.[29][30] While things are escalating in mounting rage. (Unlike some of the other subreddits, like Overwatch, were the mods kept the discussion up)[31][32] Even other game companies, like the makers of Gods Unchained (Even offering to give Ng Chung the same amount of the prize money that's due to him).[33][34] and Epic Games[35][36] and up to politicians were criticizing the Irvine company. While that was going on, it was found out that in Weibo, a Chinese social media service that Blizzard made a statement that translates to:[37]:


Sometime in October 9, 2019, a small group of Blizzard employees walked out just to protest the company's political actions. One longtime employee stated in a The Daily Beast interview that

  "The action Blizzard took against the player was pretty appalling but not surprising, Blizzard makes a lot of money in China, but now the company is in this awkward position where we can't abide by our values."

Another employee quips:

   "I'm disappointed, we want people all over the world to play our games, but no action like this can be made with political neutrality.

[38][39] [40][41] These Blizzard employees papered two plaques some plaques, "Think Globally" and "Every Voice Matters".[42] Kevin Hovdestad took to twitter explaining that "Not everyone at Blizzard agrees with what happened. Both the "Think Globally" and "Every Voice Matters" values have been covered up by incensed employees this morning."[43][44]

Blizzard fans took to turning Mei, a Chinese climatologist from Overwatch, into a "pro-democracy symbol" to show support for Hong Kong's freedom fight and for the Asian country to use.[45] The idea came from the Hong Kong subreddit were a guy suggested that people use Mei (despite she's from the mainland) into freedom Hong Kong sympathizer meme. It snowball (no pun intended) from there.[46][47]

In October 10, 2019, Calvin Wong of PC Gamer, compared the anti-Blizzard/anti-NBA (The NBA did something similar to Blizzard and knowtow to China) movement is gonna get co-opted by "xenophoic actors" to promote free speech. (Though technically, the most of the mainstream gaming sites love the thought of policies that are similar to China's to be implemented in the West and extreme censorship of thought is one of them).[48] [49][50]

In October 11, 2019, Blizzard's newer statement revealed that instead of a year, Blizchung and the casters will just have their suspensions reduced to mainly six months and Ng "Blizchung" Wai Chung will get all of his prize money back. Rod Breslau's thoughts on this were "Just like Riot Games, Blizzard would like you to shut your mouth."[51][52] Though they assured international fans that they will be "assessing the situation" about the HS suspension.[53]

During this, angry fans decided to use Mei, a character from Overwatch, as a mascot to represent freedom for Hong Kong and for the protesters to use.[54][55] [56]

Even the AccessNow was made aware of what happened to Chung Ng Wai,[57] a global rights organization that works to defend and extend basic rights of users at risk. Stating that "Blizzard's recent actions indicate inadequate polices and practices in this area, showing lack of respect for freedom of expression." Even urging the video game company to lessen the punishments and for them to clarify their policies.

In October 12, 2019, Blizzard released another statement stating that "China had no influence on our decision" to removing Blitzchung and to "keep the focus on the game and on the tournament to the benefit of a global audience..."[58][59][60] Despite criticizing President Trump earlier, doing political correctness Pride Day pandering to SJWs[61][62] Granted it was an extreme way to handle things, since they were stuck betwixt a rock and a hard place, it's either to continue to do business with China so their products will continue to sell over there or value the 'Every voice matters.' seriously and isolate China as a whole. Not to mention that there's a few bad eggs with the Hong Kong protesters. - Despite that China is totally detested towards Hong Kong as a whole.[63][64]

The former customers are even criticizing Blizzard for not raising a peep about persecuted groups in China, like the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities that are forced into "political education" centers and concentration camps.[65][66]

During October 17, 2019, the American University team that showed support for both Chung Ng Wai and Hong Kong earlier are now having a six month banned. Chambers revealed to Kotaku about an e-mail that Blizzard send him, stating that "Every Voice Matters" and encouraging viewpoints, but official broadcasts are suppose to be about the game, said competition, and an all welcoming place.[67]

See Also



Operation Chinese Winter

Milo Yiannopoulos


  1. (Straight Dope/archive) - [1]
  2. In 2005, Blizzard Change the Name of Maine Coon (KIA/archive) - [2]
  3. In 2005, In 2005, Blizzard Change the Name Blizzard Change the Name of Maine Coon (KIA) - [3]
  4. Blizzard CEO on Gamergate:"They're Tarnishing Our Reputations As Gamers (PC Gaming/archive) - [4]
  5. [5]
  6. Blizzard President Criticizes "Muslim Ban" (Polygon/archive) -[6]
  7. EA, Activision Blizzard, and Valve Found in Breach of Belgian Gambling Laws (archive) -[7]
  8. EA, Activision, and Valve Found in Breach of Belgian Gambling Laws (KIA/archive) - [8]
  9. DI's Frosty Reception and a Chat with the Red Shirt Dontinquire -[9]
  10. Second Wind Sent "Ellie" Check Request -[10]
  11. Second Wind Sent Ellie Check Request - [11]
  12. The Ellie-Fant In the Room (VPESports) - [12]
  13. "The Ellie-Fant in the Room (KiA) - [13]
  14. OW Pro Quits After Harassment Over Whether She Was Really Playing (Kotaku/archive) - [14]
  15. OW Team Says Player Questioned About Identity Was Impostor After All (kotaku/archive) - [15]
  16. If You're on Deadline (twitter/archive) - [16]
  17. So A Man Poorly Pretends to Be A Woman (tweeter/archive) - [17]
  18. Soldier 76 Chose War Over a Boyfriend in OW Short Story - [18]
  19. Censored HS Cards - [19]
  20. Blizzard Changes The Artwork of Eight Cards (KIA) - [20]
  21. American University Team Competing in Hearthstone Collegiate Championship (KIA) - [21]
  22. Breaking: Effective Immediately (Rod Breaslau/Tweet) -[22]
  23. In a post-match interview (Rod breaslau/Twitter/archive) - [23]
  24. Effective Immediately (Rod Breslau/tweet/archive) - [24]
  25. In a post match interview (Rod Breaslau/Tweet/archive) - [25]
  26. Blizzard Taiwan Deleted Hearthstone Grandmasters Winner's Interview due to his Support of HK Protest (KIA) - [26]
  27. In Tonight's Collegiate HS Championship (Rod Breslau (Tweet) -[27]
  28. Blizzard decided to not Penalize AU (Rod Breslau/Tweet/archive) - [28]
  29. Blizzard Subreddit Closes After devs Suspend HS Player (Kotaku/archive) - [
  30. Blizzard Under Fire (Eurogamer/archive) - [29]
  31. Blizzard Ruling on HK Interview (Overwatch/reddit/archive) -[30]
  32. Blizzard Ruling on HK Interview (Overwatch/reddit) - [31]
  33. Blizzard just banned (Gods Unchained/Tweet) - [32]
  34. Gods Unchained/Tweet/archive) - [33]
  35. Unlike Blizzard, EG Says They Won't Ban Players for Political Speech (The Verge/archive) - [34]
  36. Unlike Blizzard (KIA) - [35]
  37. On Chinese Social Media, Blizzard Said it Would Protect China's "National Dignity (US Gamer/archive) - [36]
  38. Blizzard Employees Staged A Walkout to Protest Banned Pro-HK Gamer (Daily Beast) -[37]
  39. Blizzard Employees Standing With HK (r/Hearthstone) - [38]
  40. Umbrella Protest at Blizzard (Imgur) - [39]
  41. Blizzard Employees Stage a Walkout (The Daily Beast/archive) - [40]
  42. Blizzard Employees Quietly Protest (Dot Esports/archive) - [41]
  43. Blizzard Employees Quietly Protest (Dot Esports) - [42]
  44. Blizzard Employees Standing With HK (r/Hearthstone/freeze page) - [43]
  45. Protestors Are Trying to Get Overwatch Banned in China (Polygon/archive) - [44]
  46. Overwatch Hero Mei is Becoming a HK Protest Symbol (r/Overwatch/archive) - [45]
  47. OW Hero Mei Becoming A HK Protest Symbol (r/overwatch) - [46]
  48. Calvin (Twitter/archive) - [47]
  49. Calvin Wong (PC Gamer) "A Persepctive I Haven't Seen Yet (KIA) -[48]
  50. A Perspective I Haven't Seen Yet (KIA/freeze page) - [49]
  51. JUST IN (Rod Breslau/Tweet) - [50]
  52. JUST IN (Rod Breslau/Tweet/archive) - [51]
  53. Blizzard "Assessing the Situation" (US Gamer/archive) - [52]
  54. Good Morning, Fam (Mark Kern/Twitter) - [53]
  55. HK Mei is Now On Local News in HK (KotakuInAction2) - [54]
  56. We Did It Fam (Mark Kern/Twitter/archive) - [55]
  57. Open Letter (Access Now) - [56]
  58. Regarding Last Weekend's Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament (Inside Blizzard/archive) - [57]
  59. Blizzard "China have no INFLUENCE in our Decision (KotakuInAction2/archive) - [58]
  60. Blizzard "China have no INFLUENCE in our decision (KotakuInAction2) - [59]
  61. Political Free - [60]
  62. We Don't Want Divisive Social Or Political Views (KIA2) - [61]
  63. Devil's Advocate: Blizzard Was There Another Option? (Kotakuinaction2/archive) - [62]
  64. Devil's Advocate (KIA2) - [63]
  65. The Case for Boycotting Beijing 2022 (The Diplomat) - [64]
  66. The Case for Boycotting Beijin 2022 (archive) - [65]
  67. Blizzard Gives 6 Month Ban to College Team (Kotaku/archive) - [66]