2020-01-01_PC_Gamer_(US_Edition

TOP: Some Hong
Kong protesters have
taken up Mei as a
symbol of their
movement, hoping to
embarass Blizzard.

Brack that “our relationships in China had no influence

on our decision”, and claims that the company was simply

enforcing tournament rules as it would with any political

statement, the backlash has been loud, clear, and angry.

Angry enough to convince Blizzard to backpedal,

reducing Blitzchung’s punishment to a six month ban,

with no penalty to his winnings. The damage, though, is

very much done, with even American officials getting

involved via a bipartisan letter from Congress

condemning Blizzard’s actions.

But to believe this a problem isolated to Activision

Blizzard would be naive. Tencent is the biggest games

publisher in the world, with fingers in a huge amount of

gaming pies—they have 300 listed investments including

owning five per cent of Ubisoft, 40 of Epic Games, 80 of

Grinding Gear Games (Path of Exile) and all of Riot. How

many of these would make the same decision if

Blitzchung had been at one of their events?

The blowback against Blizzard’s decision has been

intense, and rightly so, but it would be a mistake to see

this as an isolated blunder. Chinese influence in the games

industry is the new normal, and with it comes an

ever-present threat of the suppression of free speech by

the companies that make the games you love.

Rachel Watts

Highs & Lows

HIGHS

Fortnite

After its child-enraging black hole

event, Fortnite returned with an

impressive new map.

The Sims 4

The latest expansion for the life sim

behemoth is Discover University,

letting your Sims enroll in education.

Resident Evil 2

Modder ZombieAli is working on

replacing Mr X with the goose from

Untitled Goose Game. Genius.

Va mpi re: The

Masquerade—Bloodlines 2

Hardsuit Lab’s ambitious sequel has

been delayed until 2020.

Fallout 76

Following the delay of the next major

update, Bethesda launched an

ill-advised subscription service.

Planetside Arena

Daybreak Games has laid off more

employees, including a chunk of the

team working on Planetside Arena.

LOWS

Seemingly giving up its last
shred of confidence in Origin,
EA has brought its games
back to Steam. Another blow
struck in Steam’s war with Epic? Or just
good business? RV

ORIGIN STORY

EA RETURNS TO STEAM

NAUTOLAN BUT NICE

ONSLAUGHT

While a buggy game isn’t a

laughing matter, some WWE

2K20 videos are hilarious,

with wrestlers melting

through the floor, props turning invisible,

and the referee waddling like a crab. AK

GLITCH HITTER

WWE 2K

With the Onslaught

expansion, Star Wars: The

Old Republic has added

Nautolans. There are new

worlds, a new storyline, and some big

gear changes. FB