You don’t know if it’s going to be something dangerous that might actually hurt people.” You don’t know if it’s going to be someone onstage. “You don’t know if it’s going to be people chanting outside. “A lot of people that would’ve been happy and excited are now feeling dread that something’s going to happen,” he said. The staffer who compared BlizzCon to Christmas said the prospect of protests has “poisoned” anticipation for this year’s event.

As punishment, the company kicked him out of the tournament, revoked his $10,000 in winnings and banned him from “Hearthstone” esports for a year. In early October, with Blizzcon less than a month away, esports player Blitzchung appeared on a Taiwanese broadcast for a post-match interview in a gas mask and goggles, and yelled in support of the pro-democracy protests roiling Hong Kong. It could mark the end of a difficult era for Blizzard and the beginning of a promising new one. To some employees who made it through the past 12 months, this year’s BlizzCon represented an opportunity for a do-over, a reset - a “make-up baby,” as the staffer put it. Coming after the company reported record-setting profits, bringing in $7.5 billion in revenue in 2018, it was a shock.

Then, in February, came the heaviest blow yet: the layoff of roughly 800 people, or about 8% of Activision Blizzard’s workforce.

BlizzCon 2018, falling a few weeks later, was greeted by fans and gaming critics as a letdown, with the major product release, the mobile game “Diablo Immortal,” drawing jeers. In October 2018, Mike Morhaime, the company’s beloved founder, stepped down as president.

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