In early October, an esports champion was banned by US gaming company Activision-Blizzard, and $10k winnings were revoked because the champion chose to share his pro-Hong Kong views during a post-game interview. Many believe the reason for the harsh punishment lay with Activision-Blizzard massive economic ties to China. A week later, a bipartisan committee of US Congress members including Marco Rubio and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez publicly denounced Activision-Blizzard decision to punish the esports champion, warning the action could silence others who seek to use global gaming platforms to support basic human rights.
This situation with Activision-Blizzard and China is a small slice of a much larger economic problem within the US. In my research I learned there were many companies that had come under fire for bowing to market pressure from China, including Apple, Google, and the NBA. This raises the question: What happens when free speech, a basic human right, comes in conflict with the quote-unquote free market? The aims of my project is to illustrate the subtle hypocrisy held by some American companies and this trend of bowing to profit pressure, to encourage more activism amongst the gaming community, and to ask people to think about the values of the companies they choose to support.
Working as "designer as editor", I collected various aspects of this narrative from different sources and created a series of graphic sketches which evolved into a collection of posters reminiscent of both protest and propaganda posters.
