Kliuless? Gaming Industry Insights #53
Hi, my name is Kenny Liu, and each week I compile a gaming industry insights newsletter that I publish broadly. Opinions are mine.
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The China Cultural Clash
Yesterday, Blizzard dismissed a Hearthstone player for supporting Hong Kong protests
From a financial perspective, this comes as no surprise given both Activision's & Blizzard's intimate ties with Chinese companies Tencent & NetEase, respectively
Call of Duty: Mobile, developed by Tencent, has rocketed to become the fastest ever mobile game to 100 million downloads, an especially impressive feat considering the game is not even available in the biggest mobile gaming market, China
Blizzard, as new president J. Allen Brack reveals, has been working with NetEase on Diablo: Immortal for years already
However, a similar incident occurred with the NBA this week, and their response was the exact opposite:
"Values of equality, respect and freedom of expression have long defined the NBA — and will continue to do so. As an American-based basketball league operating globally, among our greatest contributions are these values of the game [...]
It is inevitable that people around the world — including from America and China — will have different viewpoints over different issues. It is not the role of the NBA to adjudicate those differences. However, the NBA will not put itself in a position of regulating what players, employees and team owners say or will not say on these issues. We simply could not operate that way"
Stratechery's Ben Thompson elaborates more in his recent post, The China Cultural Clash:
"I am increasingly convinced this is the point every company dealing with China will reach: what matters more, money or values?
I am not particularly excited to write this article. My instinct is towards free trade, my affinity for Asia generally and Greater China specifically, my welfare enhanced by staying off China’s radar. And yet, for all that the idea of being a global citizen is an alluring concept and largely my lived experience, I find in situations like this that I am undoubtedly a child of the West. I do believe in the individual, in free speech, and in democracy, no matter how poorly practiced in the United States or elsewhere. And, in situations like this weekend, when values meet money, I worry just how many companies are capable of choosing the former?
The NBA, to its immense credit, appears to have done just that. Will technology companies be so brave? [...]
The biggest, shift, though, is a mindset one. First, the Internet is an amoral force that reduces friction, not an inevitable force for good. Second, sometimes different cultures simply have fundamentally different values. Third, if values are going to be preserved, they must be a leading factor in economic entanglement, not a trailing one. This is the point that [Bill] Clinton got the most wrong: money, like tech, is amoral. If we insist it matters most our own morals will inevitably disappear"
What if we were to ask ourselves, "Will gaming companies be so brave?"
Unfortunately, for many, the answer to that will of course be no
Activision Blizzard, Epic, Riot, and countless others are already deep in the pockets of the Chinese, having taken their capital during Tencent & NetEase's decade-long "shopping spree," which especially accelerated these past several years
However, I hope future game developers though will at the very least pause to reflect about the potential moral implications of accepting censorship capital when seeking investment and/or partnerships
Related:
Not everyone at Blizzard agrees with what happened
Wait But Why: The Mute Button
[KL: In case you aren't following his new series, author Tim Urban is sharing in weekly installments his longest post to date. After nearly three years and two million words, he is tackling the difficult task of explaining the nature of our current society — by going all the way back to the beginning of time and the cellular level. This particular post focuses on censorship, but I highly recommend reading this highly educational and entertaining series in its entirety]
Design
Mark Brown: Clockwork Games and Time Loops
Related: Jam Sesh: How a Popular Online Contest Sparks Design Innovation
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