US gamers call for a boycott, but Blizzard has a huge fanbase in China

Warcraft, Overwatch and Hearthstone are hugely popular in China, where Blizzard is finding more opportunity for growth

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Published: 11:34pm, 11 Oct 2019Updated: 3:08pm, 2 Jun 2023

Blizzard makes some of the most popular games in the world. The American company behind World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Starcraft has a huge global following, most notably in China, one of the biggest gaming markets in the world.

But now it finds itself caught in the middle of a controversy, under fire at home for appeasing one of its biggest markets abroad.

How popular are Blizzard’s games in China? When the company launched WoW Classic -- an old build of the game -- it saw 1 million Chinese gamers log in to relive the glory days of the original.

But there’s a better way to put its popularity into perspective. Remember the Warcraft film? It was a huge flop in the West… but it was a huge hit in China. At the time, it had the most successful opening for a foreign film. In all, it pulled in US$225 million at the box office in the country, four times more than it made in the US.

Hearthstone player Blitzchung wore a mask and chanted “Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times!” on Twitch. (Picture: Blizzard)

That’s why the company now finds itself walking a tightrope, after it punished an esports player at a Hearthstone tournament this week for chanting a Hong Kong protest slogan in a post-game interview. Afterwards, Blizzard issued an apology on Weibo in Chinese that promised to “firmly safeguard national dignity.”