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If it's a lose-lose situation for Blizzard then they could very well pick China over the West. Them making that choice will give them a bad reputation in the We

If it's a lose-lose situation for Blizzard then they could very well pick China over the West. Them making that choice will give them a bad reputation in the West, but it might provide them opportunities in China.

gpm 7y ago
Pick < 10% of their market, <10% of the investors, and the ire of the government they are incorporated under? This seems highly unlikely... They might try to straddle the US and China, on the basis that the US has no real teeth, but they aren't going to abandon it.
- Mirioron 7y ago
  >They might try to straddle the US and China, on the basis that the US has no real teeth That's the point. The US can't really shut out Blizzard even if they engage in this kind of behavior, because the US gives them freedom to make their own decisions. I'm saying that if it's a lose-lose sustain then Blizzard might pick appeasing the Chinese market, because there's a limit to what can happen to them in the US. The players might get mad, but plenty of gaming companies exist that lots of players are angry about (eg EA, Ubisoft).
  - gpm 7y ago
    The US can't easily shut them out of the US but it can shut them out of China entirely via sanctions. The US does with countries other than China already (e.g. Iran). It's not clear to me how likely the US government is to do this, but it's something they have to be aware of given that whole bipartisan letter from congress thing.
  - lawrenceyan 7y ago
    You forget that the majority of profits still come from a core customer base that is located primarily in the NA/EU region. There is a serious risk of permanently alienating a large portion of this base that could have massive impacts on Blizzard's overall earning potential.
    - filoleg 7y ago
      ^this. As of the most recent quarter, only 12% of their whole revenue came from the ENTIRE Asia-Pacific region (which includes China, but a bunch of other countries as well), while US made up 55% and Europe did 33%.[0] 0. https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/activision-blizzard-announces-second-quarter-2019-financial https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-d...

gpm 7y ago

Pick < 10% of their market, <10% of the investors, and the ire of the government they are incorporated under? This seems highly unlikely... They might try to straddle the US and China, on the basis that the US has no real teeth, but they aren't going to abandon it.

Mirioron 7y ago
>They might try to straddle the US and China, on the basis that the US has no real teeth That's the point. The US can't really shut out Blizzard even if they engage in this kind of behavior, because the US gives them freedom to make their own decisions. I'm saying that if it's a lose-lose sustain then Blizzard might pick appeasing the Chinese market, because there's a limit to what can happen to them in the US. The players might get mad, but plenty of gaming companies exist that lots of players are angry about (eg EA, Ubisoft).
- gpm 7y ago
  The US can't easily shut them out of the US but it can shut them out of China entirely via sanctions. The US does with countries other than China already (e.g. Iran). It's not clear to me how likely the US government is to do this, but it's something they have to be aware of given that whole bipartisan letter from congress thing.
- lawrenceyan 7y ago
  You forget that the majority of profits still come from a core customer base that is located primarily in the NA/EU region. There is a serious risk of permanently alienating a large portion of this base that could have massive impacts on Blizzard's overall earning potential.
  - filoleg 7y ago
    ^this. As of the most recent quarter, only 12% of their whole revenue came from the ENTIRE Asia-Pacific region (which includes China, but a bunch of other countries as well), while US made up 55% and Europe did 33%.[0] 0. https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/activision-blizzard-announces-second-quarter-2019-financial https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-d...