I cannot wait for the backlash at Blizzcon.
Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
21–30 of 91 posts
Re: Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
#22If that's real, that's a surprisingly bad PR move from Blizzard. I understand this was targeted at a Chinese audience (since Weibo) but they must have known this would get back to their English speaking audience almost immediately. There has to be a better balance then "We will always respect and defend the pride of our country" (even if that is a slight mistranslation).
> There has to be a better balance then "We will always respect and defend the pride of our country" (even if that is a slight mistranslation).
I'd translate it as: "We will continue to uphold respect towards countries." There's no "pride" or "our" in the original.
Re: Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
#23If that's real, that's a surprisingly bad PR move from Blizzard. I understand this was targeted at a Chinese audience (since Weibo) but they must have known this would get back to their English speaking audience almost immediately. There has to be a better balance then "We will always respect and defend the pride of our country" (even if that is a slight mistranslation).
There is a good chance it was not authorized by HQ and might be some China-specific PR division acting autonomously. I have a feeling blizzard just wants this problem to go away, otherwise people are going to turn blizzcon 2019 into a shitshow
Maybe they should nut up and make it go away?
Re: Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
#24If that's real, that's a surprisingly bad PR move from Blizzard. I understand this was targeted at a Chinese audience (since Weibo) but they must have known this would get back to their English speaking audience almost immediately. There has to be a better balance then "We will always respect and defend the pride of our country" (even if that is a slight mistranslation).
> There has to be a better balance then "We will always respect and defend the pride of our country" (even if that is a slight mistranslation). I'd translate it as: "We will continue to uphold respect towards countries." There's no "pride" or "our" in the original.
I've heard multiple people explain that this is standard phrasing in Chinese to refer to China the country, and not "countries in general."
Re: Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
#25If that's real, that's a surprisingly bad PR move from Blizzard. I understand this was targeted at a Chinese audience (since Weibo) but they must have known this would get back to their English speaking audience almost immediately. There has to be a better balance then "We will always respect and defend the pride of our country" (even if that is a slight mistranslation).
Indeed - did Blizzard staff post this willingly or was this posted on Blizzard's Weibo account via Weibo staff or even someone else who followed an order? They certainly want to make the Blizzard game fans fall in line thinking Blizzard is aligning with China's tyrants' orders.
Re: Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
#26If that's real, that's a surprisingly bad PR move from Blizzard. I understand this was targeted at a Chinese audience (since Weibo) but they must have known this would get back to their English speaking audience almost immediately. There has to be a better balance then "We will always respect and defend the pride of our country" (even if that is a slight mistranslation).
Anyone know if a shit storm is also on the chinese side?
I doubt that a Chinese citizen is willing to risk imprisonment or a dent in their social credit score for this.
Re: Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
#27NBA did the same thing. Their Chinese statement was way more apologetic than the English one. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2019/10/07/nba-chin...
While the NBA's Chinese statement denounces what was said, it also affirms their commitment to freedom of speech. The NBA stance and the Blizzard stance are very different. Blizzard seems to show zero backbone and zero support for free speech.
Re: Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
#28If that's real, that's a surprisingly bad PR move from Blizzard. I understand this was targeted at a Chinese audience (since Weibo) but they must have known this would get back to their English speaking audience almost immediately. There has to be a better balance then "We will always respect and defend the pride of our country" (even if that is a slight mistranslation).
Anyone know if a shit storm is also on the chinese side?
> Anyone know if a shit storm is also on the chinese side?
I don't trust any of these reports about Chinese social media being outraged about these actions by Westerners or Western companies -- it's controlled too tightly by the Chinese government. I could see any of the following being true about any of these recent controversies:
1. The outrage is fully manufactured by the government-paid 50-cent party posters (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party).
2. Normal Chinese social media users are genuinely outraged, but only because the 50-cent party got the ball rolling.
3. The outrage is genuine, widespread, and organic.
4. The outrage is genuine and organic, but not widespread. It's just basement dwellers and the like, and most regular Chinese people don't care or don't care much.
5. The outrage is genuine and organic, but not widespread, but is also getting amplified and promoted by the authorities through algorithmic ranking.
6. etc.
Honestly, IMHO only #3 deserves any response from Western companies and coverage in Western media as popular opinion. The rest should be either ignored or reported on as a propaganda campaign.
Re: Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
#29If that's real, that's a surprisingly bad PR move from Blizzard. I understand this was targeted at a Chinese audience (since Weibo) but they must have known this would get back to their English speaking audience almost immediately. There has to be a better balance then "We will always respect and defend the pride of our country" (even if that is a slight mistranslation).
Most Americans will see this message as intentionally trolling the US and Hong Kong. Politicians are already angry about this regardless of political party. Honestly it is one of the worst responses possible. It has to be a mistake.
Re: Blizzard's Weibo Account Just Posted an Apology To China
#30I would feel a lot better about companies talking out of both sides of their mouths here if what they said in English wasn't already so compromised. Firing the broadcasters and banning the player shows which side of their mouth Blizzard is speaking truth out of, I think.
Seems pretty conflicted with their "think globally" core value. Maybe they should update that one to "divide and conquer."