 Next week, colourful character shooter Overwatch is finally released on the Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately for Blizzard, there's a problem. Many fans of their games, including those who currently play Overwatch and other games, are calling for a boycott of all Blizzard titles. Even some Blizzard employees have been protesting against the company, and political leaders around the world are decrying the company's actions. This is the result of Blizzard's attempt to censor Hearthstone player Blitzchung, who, after expressing support for Hong Kong's ongoing pro-democracy protests, has been stripped of his title and winnings and banned from the game. This is a complicated and nuanced issue that can't be boiled down into simple binaries of Good vs Evil or Horde vs Alliance. In an effort to help give full context, here are the facts, as plainly as we can present them, as they are understood at the time of writing. We apologise if some bias slips in here or there, we are doing our best to be impartial. First things first, a history lesson. Before we can cover Blizzard, we need to know how we got here in the first place. It all started with a cup of tea. Well, lots of cups, actually. Britain literally couldn't get enough of the stuff, and when China wasn't willing to engage in trade, the British Empire did what they always do in these situations. They started a war. Following the Opium Wars, Britain took control of the small island of Hong Kong, along with a chunk of neighbouring territory attached to mainland China. The Chinese Emperor had enough other problems to deal with. China was not, and has never been, a single unified entity. Instead, it's made up of many different languages, dialects, cultures and political groups. Keeping these groups under government rule has always proved difficult. Case in point. In 1949, following a violent civil war, the Communist Party of China ousted the former democratic government, the Republic of China. The exiled leaders retreated to Taiwan, which retained its own independent democratic status. The main problem that the new Chinese government faced was maintaining law in spite of their citizens' various cultures and political beliefs. Thus, they led the Cultural Revolution, adopting a single national language, Mandarin, and destroying religious icons and historical records across the country. Meanwhile, British-ruled Hong Kong was increasingly influenced by Western society, leading to a unique culture and national identity. Many people in Hong Kong do not see themselves as Chinese, but rather as Hong Kongers. When, in 1997, Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule, it did so under the condition that China could not encroach on Hong Kong's rights and freedoms under its basic law. Hong Kong was to retain freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and a degree of democracy for a minimum period of 50 years. Today, Hong Kong is a special administrative region, not quite a country in its own right, but very close. Its currency is the Hong Kong dollar, its national languages are Cantonese and English, it has its own judicial system, and citizens are able to elect local leaders. They can also elect their head of government, their chief executive, but only from a list of candidates selected by the Chinese government. Earlier this year, a new proposed extradition bill was put forward that would have allowed China to arrest Hong Kongers and transport them to China for questioning and prosecution. Many locals saw this as a violation of their protected rights, leading to one of the biggest protests in human history. Protesters claim that as many as two million people took to the streets, but the Hong Kong police refuses to cooperate this claim. In the months since, there have been many violent clashes between protesters and the police. Protesters are calling for an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality, while the police claim that fear for their own safety has justified shooting an unarmed protester in the chest with live ammunition. China heavily censors media coverage of the protests, both in official broadcasts and online. Any social media post within the country expressing sympathy for Hong Kong protesters will quickly be deleted. These are the circumstances that led Hearthstone player Ngwai Chung, or Blitzchung, to make a public statement supporting the protests. On the Taiwanese Hearthstone Channel, two hosts, Virtual and Mr. Yi, interviewed Blitzchung after a tournament win. At the interviewer's encouragement, Blitzchung shouted in Mandarin, Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our time. Blitzchung was later informed that he was to be stripped of his title and prize money and that he would be banned from competing in the upcoming Hearthstone season. He wasn't the only one to receive punishment. Blitzchung also immediately fired Virtual and Mr. Yi. In a tearful stream to his Twitch followers, Mr. Yi stated that he'd also been banned from competing in an upcoming Overwatch tournament as a result of the interview. In a public statement, Blitzchung claimed that the trio were guilty of, according to their terms of service, engaging in any act that in Blitzchung's sole discretion brings you into public dispute, offends a portion or group of the public. So, Blitzchung was stripped of his title and winnings. As far as Blizzard was concerned, supporting Hong Kong's protesters' battle for full democracy was far too controversial. It seems that not everyone in the company agreed. Around twenty employees walked out of the company's headquarters in California in protest, collecting signatures for a petition to reverse the bans. Someone also covered up a sign at the office which states, Every voice matters. Similarly, Hearthstone team American University held up a sign during a streamed match which read, Free Hong Kong, Boycott Blitz. The live feed was immediately cut. Blizzard later announced that they would not punish American University for their actions, but the team have elected to forfeit regardless and not participate in any more matches, as they feel it is unfair of Blizzard to punish Blitzchung, but not American University. Following this, another professional Hearthstone player, Nathan Admiral Zamora, also announced that he would quit the game in solidarity with Blitzchung. Across the board, many Blizzard fans are calling for boycotts. It's been reported that the number of players attempting to cancel their Blizzard accounts is such that the servers are struggling to process them all, although these claims are unsubstantiated. Some Blizzard fans have found an enterprising way to push back against the company's decision. In addition to calling for a boycott, some supporters of Hong Kong democracy have started photoshopping Overwatch's May to make her look like a protester, complete with the black face masks that are worn to stop China's facial recognition software from identifying and prosecuting those involved. The goal behind this form of peaceful internet protest is to try and force China to ban the character outright, thereby punishing Blizzard for siding with the government's official stance. If this sounds like a ridiculous notion, bear in mind that Winnie the Pooh is currently banned on social media in China, simply because commenters online notice that Chinese Premier Xi Jinping looks a little bit like Pooh Bear in a photograph. Incidentally, Barack Obama is in the photo too, and people think he looks like Tigger. According to Engadget, official Blizzard sources claim that the company is assessing the situation. It's too soon to know what Blizzard will do in response to this backlash, or indeed, what will happen next with the Hong Kong protests. This story is up to date as of the time of writing. We hope that we can at least provide some context as to what's led to ongoing calls for a Blizzard boycott.