“Blizzard lost a big sponsor after the Hong Kong outcry: Mitsubishi”, 29 October 2019

Blizzard Entertainment may be feeling the effects of its controversial ban of Hong Kong Hearthstone player Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung for quite some time. The company not only faced a widespread player boycott, condemnations from US lawmakers, and numerous employee walkouts over the decision, but it also lost a key sponsor of its international gaming competitions.

According to The Daily Beast, Mitsubishi decided to pull sponsorships of Blizzard e-sports events after the company banned Wai Chung for voicing support for the Hong Kong protesters in a televised post-game interview... Reddit users first noticed the disappearance of the Mitsubishi logo during a recent Asia Pacific Hearthstone tournament, and the company confirmed its decision to pull its sponsorship to The Daily Beast.

The arm of Mitsubishi that pulled its sponsorship support was Mitsubishi Motors Taiwan, the Taiwanese branch of the Japanese auto company. Taiwan is often the subject of contentious disputes between the Chinese government and businesses around the world who risk losing the opportunity to do business in the country’s mainland if they defy in any way the government’s position on Chinese sovereignty of Hong Kong, Taiwan and other territories…

After initially announcing a year-long ban of Wai Chung and the tournament announcers who were interviewing him live… Blizzard has since shortened the ban to six months in response to the fan and public outcry…