> Instead, they forfeited both.

How did they forfeit both? Do we have any evidence for Blizzard being pressured do this?

We absolutely have not, all we have is a bunch of social-media hysteria were this claim originally came from, in complete ignorance of the fact that Blizzard has banned plenty of pro-players before for voicing "negative speech" [0].

In that context your response is exactly what I was referring to: People are not interested in what actually happened, people only want to hear what they THINK happened, even if there's zilch evidence backing it up and it never actually happened.

Again: What evidence is there that Blizzard was pressured into doing this and as such debunking their reaction as a straight-faced lie? There is none, while there's a long list of other competitive players who've been banned for exactly the same reason.

I do not even understand why this is so controversial on HN out of all places. This whole comment section reads like Reddit, lots of appeals to emotions, very little sticking to the facts at hand.

[0] https://liquipedia.net/overwatch/Banned_players

You're taking a company's statement, that avoids any mention of money, economic interests, or China, at face value?

I hear your point, but what would a smoking gun look like?

An email or recorded conversation from the CCP about the actions they would take if Blizzard didn't keep the ban in place?

That positive confirmation bar seems unreasonably high.

> An email or recorded conversation from the CCP about the actions they would take if Blizzard didn't keep the ban in place?

How about anything concrete that isn't just sheer hearsay and speculation out of the social media sphere?

And yet you consider it outrageous that I take Blizz statement at face value? I already explained my reasons for that: To me this ban is very in line with other previous bans Blizzard issued.

That does not mean that I condone them or that I agree with them, but it gives precedence to the situation, precedent that had absolutely nothing to do with China.

We have precedent for Blizzard having banned players over political statements before, we have no precedent for Blizzard having been pressured by the CCP to do so. So what is the most likely thing that happened here?

That seems like illogical reasoning.

The fact that Blizzard has banned people for making political statements before does not mean that there were no ancillary motivations in this instance.

You may feel otherwise, but I don't think a pattern of previous behavior unambiguously resolves the motivation behind an action.