In the past month, Blizzard Entertainment, an operating branch of Activision Blizzard (ATVI  ), has gotten a lot backlash for their actions towards a Hong Kong protest sympathizer. A professional Hearthstone player named Ng Wai Chung, or better known as Blitzchung, is a resident of Hong Kong. Ng was recently punished by Blizzard for speaking out during a post-match interview. During the interview, the Hearthstone gamer shouted a popular protest slogan "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age!" while wearing a gas mask. Blizzard claimed that Ng was in violation of the company's competition rules. As a result, Ng received a year-long ban and was stripped of his potential winnings.

This controversy caused an uproar among the internet and Blizzard fans. Social Media was outraged after the news broke out. Players and gamers around the world posted images and comments of themselves uninstalling and unsubscribing from Blizzard games. Eventually, Blizzard shortened Ng's ban and returned his winnings to him. However, the drama doesn't end there.

On Friday, Nov. 1 during Blizzcon, Blizzard's annual gaming event, the company announced new upcoming game titles like Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV. However there were a few other surprises that came from the event. Outside the event, protesters gathered to support the Hong Kong protests and demand an apology from Blizzard for their actions taken towards players who engaged in protests. Freedom Hong Kong movement handed out "Free Hong Kong" t-shirts to attendees outside the event.

With this, the Blizzcon fan expo started off with a direct apology from Blizzard President J. Allen Brack. "We moved too quickly in our decision and then to make matters worse, we were too slow to talk with all of you," said Brack during the opening ceremony. "I am sorry and I accept accountability." Aware of the protesting out the convention, Brack addressed the situation head-on. He made a promise on behalf of the company and himself to do better in the future. He added, "We will do better going forward. But our actions are going to matter more than any of these words. As you walk around this weekend, I hope it's clear how committed we are to people expressing themselves."

Brack's apology was Blizzard's attempt to move past the controversy. However, some speculate if this really was a sincere apology. Brack was careful not to mention Hong Kong at all in his apology. Some critics believe that this display encouraged more so by Tencent (OTCMKTS: TCEHY), the massive Chinese company that owns 5% of Activision Blizzard. However, Blizzard denied their relationship with China and stated that the decision to ban the Hearthstone player was the company's alone. However the recent walkout of several Blizzard employees and a post on Blizzard's official Weibo account seem to contradict this claim.

Even if Blizzard wants to move forward from this controversy, it's obvious that this is something that can't be swept under the rug so easily. How much this situation will truly affect Blizzard's popularity and future, time will tell.