Video gaming company Blizzard banned a Hong Kong player “Blitzchung” from Hearthstone eSports for one year and withdrew all the tournament prize money he had won after he showed support for the protests in Hong Kong during a live-streamed post-match interview. Blizzard claimed that the player’s behaviour violated its rules that bar players from conduct that “offends a portion or group of the public”.

Blizzard’s decision was criticized and many players began boycotting the game. Access Now, an international non-profit group that defends the digital rights of users at risk, issued an open letter to Blizzard, urging the company to demonstrate respect for human rights and reverse the penalties imposed on the player. Blizzard then partly reversed its decision and reduced the suspension placed on Blitzchung to six months and decided that the player should still receive his prize money. Blizzard’s president J Allen Brack insisted that "the specific views expressed by Blitzchung were not a factor in the decision we made".