The protests come after a tumultuous year for Blizzard. In February, it laid off more than 800 employees in a massive effort to cut costs while focusing on established brands like Call Of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft and Diablo. — Reuters
LOS ANGELES: Dozens of demonstrators arrived outside of BlizzCon, Activision Blizzard's annual convention to promote its current and upcoming releases, on Friday to protest the company's decision to take punitive action against a professional Hearthstone player who made a statement of support for Hong Kong during a livestream.
The protesters gathered outside of the Anaheim Convention Center on Nov 1 afternoon, the first day of the two-day event. Many held up signs that read messages including "Free Hong Kong", "Shame on Blizzard" and "Blizzard = China's b****". Several attendees were also dressed as Winnie the Pooh, which has been banned in China over jokes that the portly character resembles President Xi Jinping. One protester wore a Xi mask in addition to his Pooh costume, asking passersby, "Would you like to commit some genocide?" while holding out dollar bills.
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