To celebrate the launch of Overwatch on Switch today, Blizzard was planning on holding an event at Nintendo’s New York City store on October 16th, featuring the opportunity to meet the game’s voice actors. It’s been announced, however, that the event has been cancelled.
Please be aware that the previously announced Overwatch launch event scheduled for Wednesday, 10/16 at NintendoNYC has been cancelled by Blizzard. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
— Nintendo NY (@NintendoNYC) October 15, 2019
While a reason hasn’t been given, it’s easy to infer why the cancellation has been made. Blizzard recently found itself in hot water around the globe after it banned and rescinded prize money from a Hearthstone player who came out in support of Hong Kong demonstrators during an official competition livestream earlier this month.
While the company has since returned the money and lessened the punishment, many continue to boycott the company, as it doubles down on its political statement rules and the continued punishment of the bystanding commentators, amongst other issues. It’s possible the company believed protestors would turn up at the Nintendo event, and changed plans accordingly.
With the company’s annual BlizzCon event coming up in early November, we’ll just have to see if further cancellations are on the way.
Written by Tom Brown
Whether it’s an exciting new entry in a series long established or a weird experiment meant only for the dedicated, Tom is eager to report on it. Rest assured, if Nintendo ever announces Elite Beat Agents 2, he’ll be there.
