Blizzard US employees staged a walkout amidst controversial Hearthstone player ban

A small number of Blizzard employees in the US staged a walkout in the company’s main campus in Irvine, California, around an iconic Orc statue that is described as a popular spot for meeting people, and, in Blizzard’s own words, for “Symbolic events; passionate founder speeches often take place in front of the Orc”

Some US Blizzard employees staged a walkout.

The small group, which fluctuated between a dozen to close to thirty people throughout Wednesday morning, gathered at this spot, where they could be seen from the executive offices. This staged walkout comes after Blizzard decided to ban a Hearthstone pro player called Blitzchung after he expressed support for the Hong Kong protests on a streamed interview.

This statue is also surrounded by a runed compass that has Blizzard’s eight core values at its points: Gameplay first; Commit to Quality; Play Nice / Play Fair; Embrace you Inner Geek; Every Voice Matters; Think Globally; Lead Responsibly; Learn and Grow.

The disgruntled employees that staged the walkout took it upon themselves to cover two of these core values: Every Voice Matters and Think Globally, in a symbolic act of protest against Blizzard’s decision from Tuesday. 

Not everyone at Blizzard agrees with what happened.

Both the “Think Globally” and “Every Voice Matters” values have been covered up by incensed employees this morning. pic.twitter.com/I7nAYUes6Q

— Kevin Hovdestad (@lackofrealism) October 8, 2019

This staged walkout in Blizzard’s US Headquarters is a part of the backlash Blizzard is under since the ban. Their stock started to slowly fall, and there were reportedly so many people attempting to cancel their accounts that they were encountering errors.