It’s enough to make an esports fan wonder whether they’ve been transported into a ham-handed piece of literature.
Eddie Lui was just crowned the Bucharest Masters Tour champion, but as soon as he got his hands on the coveted trophy, his newly-won symbol of victory broke, its glowing light extinguished, and the six-pointed star, revealed to be nothing more than cheap plastic, fell to the floor.
Eddie was visibly embarrassed by the clattering remains of the trophy, and the camera quickly cut to the casters. If the cut was meant to reduce the embarrassment, it wasn’t effective, since the casters were stunned to near-silence and nervous laughter in response.
“That’ll get fixed, don’t worry,” said caster Alex Baguley, before busting out in laughter again.
On Twitter, commentator Simon Welch, who couldn’t bring himself to stop laughing after the trophy broke called the incident the “Bojack Horseman of Hearthstone clips.”
Eddie, for his part, was just happy to go home with his prize, despite some saying that Hakkar corrupted his trophy.
Lucky for Eddie, the freshman-tier symbolism of a broken trophy is not likely directed at him. Instead, it further casts a poor light on Blizzard Entertainment, who have been suffering from something of a public relations nightmare in recent days.
Blizzard’s choice to ban Ng Wai Chung, also known as “Blitzchung,” for his statements in support of Hong Kong protesters led to calls for a boycott of the company.
Blizzard claimed that the ban was not a show of support for the Chinese government, but those claims were undermined by a post by the official Hearthstone Weibo account that voiced full support of the Chinese government. Their eventual press release about the banning did little to calm angry fans, and a survey that showing that Blizzard employees mostly support the ban didn’t help matters much either.
The company’s actions drew so much attention that U.S. Congress has started demanding that Blizzard reverse the suspension.
So as the tournament draws to a close and Blizzcon quickly approaches, Blizzard’s shoddily-made trophy crumbling in a champion’s hands seems oddly fitting. The only thing that could make it better is if it turned out the trophy was made in China - though it’s unlikely anyone is going to let that information slip any time soon.
