Your income is your current income. You just get 40% less of it.
It would take a lot for me to give up 40% of my income.
Having been in that situation 500+ times, I don’t see the equivalence in this example at all, unless you’re removing them for illegitimate reasons, which is inconceivable to me.
It’s not as if Hollywood and the NBA didn’t survive just fine before China became more of a purchaser. If anything, Blizzard’s situation is more complex, since the Asian market has always been core to their business.
You’re right, it’s not equivalent in terms of China and atrocities, but it is an example of something that makes me feel bad and sometimes raises the question “Is this worth it?” as I could take a lesser paying, non-managerial role that doesn’t involve laying people off.
My current income is 0, but i take your point, and I agree.
I don’t think all political action has to be excruciatingly difficult to be worthwhile. Heroes are rare and usually when heroes are required things have already gone farther than they might have. And sometimes when heroes do show up, there’s damn little they can do anyway (perennial example: Sophie Scholl. One of the most heroic individuals who ever lived, for all the damn good it did).
I will say that to the extent to which it hurts to stop playing a game, and that is damn small, it hurts me to stop playing WoW Classic. I was really digging it!
I totally agree there are degrees of resistance. That’s why I said earlier, if China walked up to Blizzard and said “slap this guy down hard or we’re done”, I could emphasize with their decision. It’s just too much money at stake. But if Blizzard slapped him down for risk avoidance, that is truly shameful.
It’s like an ISP requiring a court order to hand info on their customers to the cops versus AT&T allowing the NSA to clandestinally spy on everybody by tapping their fiber. If they come with a court order you really must comply. But you don’t give it up without that piece of paper.
I think having caring, empathetic people like you in that role is very important. Businesses and jobs, by necessity, are more dynamic these days. While people are nostalgic for the days when their grandfathers or fathers worked one job at one place for 35 years (and got pensions), in many ways today’s economic world offers far more opportunities, at least for people under 50.
Assuming I took a job that depended on doing exactly what China told me to do at all times, I’d keep the cash, because I’d made a knowing choice to be in that situation. Which is exactly what the NBA is doing.
The real question is whether I’d take that job in the first place, and the answer is no. Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they were more heavy-handed than that. They aren’t even subtle anymore - Chinese companies pull out of business deals and openly say it’s because the Chinese government doesn’t approve of some action from the nation their business “partner” is from - even when the “infringing action” is something as necessary as “enforcing criminal bribery laws”.
It’s unbelievable to me that anyone gives into China and compromises laws and freedoms- it’s not even the correct financial decision, as chipping away at the rule of law and modifying behavior for bad actors inevitably has egregious financial consequences long-term.
Doing business in China is often a decision that is ultimately regretted. Should you have the money & time, these books are very insightful. Written by a fellow who’s been negotiating business arrangements in China for many years:
One of the points he makes is that the Chinese simply do not have the same moral framework as the West, and basically regard us as chumps.
Something I would be interested in knowing: have any casters or players had a sign, wore a t-shirt or somesuch that was pro-China, pro-HK police (like the Mulan actress) and not been disciplined by Blizzard?
If there are cases of this, it would make it even more clear they have taken a side and aren’t just “implementing policy”.
That number is grossly overstated. Blizzard/Activision revenues for 2Q YTD were $1.4 billion, so say half a year is about $3 billion, and the entire year is maybe $6 billion. It has been stated in the media several times that their ASIAN revenues are about 12% of their total, so China would be lower than 12%. But let’s assume 12%, so that makes Chinese revenue is no more than $720 million, top line, for both Blizzard and Activsion.
That sounds like something of a false choice. Is there any prospect that this will have any long-term effect on Blizzard’s American business? The market doesn’t seem to think so. Their stock price is off a little, but not much.
No good deed goes deeded until the bad deed is outdeeded by undeeding the misdeed.
Another Hearthstone caster is out.
Admirable and TJ are my favorite caster team in HS Tournaments.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned enough is that “public opinion in China” is carefully constructed by CCP. Any kind of dissent on China’s social media quickly got taken down and wiped. So all that is left is government approved agenda.
That means potentially there are millions of Chinese who are not happy about NBA or Blizzard or Tiffany capitulating to CCP, but no one knows (except CCP). By the same token, there may be millions of Chinese who would support NBA or Blizzard or Tiffany more if they just have a little bit of backbone. (PS: I certainly think better of Apple when they said FU to FBI trying to create a backdoor for millions of iOS devices just to crack open one terrorist’s iphone.)
their bat signal goes out to mainlanders outside of China too.
The Soviet Union had their brainwashed masses when things were still working relatively well also. Same with North Korea. And generally repressive regimes. Most people would trade free speech and ideals for bread on the table.