Following a recent controversy where Blizzard banned a professional Hearthstone player for a year and stripped him of his prize money for supporting the protests in Hong Kong on a live interview, Riot Games’ esports head has asked its players casters to refrain from discussing “sensitive topics” on air.

The Blizzard China Controversy Explained 12 IMAGES

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"As we near this weekend’s League of Legends World Championship Group stage, I want to take a moment to speak clearly about how we approach sensitive topics on Riot's broadcasts.



As a general rule, we want to keep our broadcasts focused on the game, the sport, and the players. We serve fans from many different countries and cultures, and we believe this opportunity comes with a responsibility to keep personal views on sensitive issues (political, religious, or otherwise) separate. These topics are often incredibly nuanced, require deep understanding and a willingness to listen, and cannot be fairly represented in the forum our broadcast provides. Therefore, we have reminded our casters and pro players to refrain from discussing any of these topics on air.



Our decision also reflects that we have Riot employees and fans in regions where there has been (or there is risk of) political and/or social unrest, including places like Hong Kong. We believe we have a responsibility to do our best to ensure that statements or actions on our official platforms (intended or not) do not escalate potentially sensitive situations.



We'll always strive to deliver a great competitive experience for players and fans. It may be idealistic, but we hope that League of Legends can be a positive force that brings people together, no matter where they are in the world, even if it’s just one game at a time on Summoner’s Rift."

In a statement published on League of Legends ’ official esports Twitter account, Riot’s global head of League of Legends esports John Needham issued a long statement on expected player conduct ahead of the League of Legends World Championship Group stage.“As a general rule, we want to keep our broadcasts focused on the game, the sport, and the players. We serve fans from many different countries and cultures, and we believe this opportunity comes with a responsibility to keep personal views on sensitive issues (political, religious, or otherwise) separate,” Needham said. “Therefore, we have reminded our casters and pro players to refrain from discussing any of these topics on air.”When IGN asked Riot Games what would happen to players or casters that did speak about “sensitive topics” on-air, a Riot spokesperson said, “We’d look at every situation case by case so whether there’d be any consequence or what that consequence would be would vary based on the circumstances.”The statement comes off the heels of a dramatic week for Blizzard Entertainment, who punished Hearthstone player Ng Wai “blitzchung” Chung for supporting Hong Kong protests during an official post-game interview with Blizzard’s Taiwan team. The casters in the interview were also punished as a result of Chung’s actions.The incident kicked off a firestorm of controversy for Blizzard as fans, lawmakers, and even famous Hearthstone casters criticized the company for its actions. Fans launched a #BoycottBlizzard movement on the internet that involved canceling subscriptions to games like World of Warcraft.The Blizzard subreddit has even successfully transformed the character Mei from Overwatch into a symbol of Hong Kong. A move they hope will get Overwatch banned from China the same way Winnie the Pooh was banned after Chinese netizens used the character as a coded symbol for Chinese President Xie Jinping.Here’s Riot’s full statement below:

Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. If you're familiar with League of Legends' esports operation please reach out on Twitter or at newstips@ign.com