The esports world is a stone, and Blizzard claims eight of them.
This saying perfectly describes the current state of the global esports scene. Although wCG has more than a dozen different game titles, none of them, except for CS, can truly compete. Eighty percent of the esports traffic is generated by Blizzard's three major games: World of Warcraft, Warcraft III, and StarCraft.
Therefore, when Li Xianghe received the fax from Blizzard, he did not dare to delay and had it delivered immediately.
However, when the fax machine stopped and his subordinate handed him the document, the subordinate stood there dumbfounded, not moving at all.
"What's wrong? Hurry up and give me the document!" Li Xianghe roared.
"Chairman..." The subordinate's legs were trembling. He handed the document to Li Xianghe with tears in his eyes. Li Xianghe looked at him strangely and then his expression became just like his subordinate's.
"Has Blizzard gone mad? They're actually prohibiting us from using all Blizzard-owned games for competitions!" Upon reading the words on the fax, Li Xianghe felt as if he had been struck a heavy blow, leaving him numb.
It was a document from Blizzard's headquarters, and the text beneath conveyed only one message: Blizzard prohibited the wCG organizing committee from holding competitions for any Blizzard-owned games under any pretext.
In other words, wCG's three most mainstream events—Warcraft III, StarCraft, and World of Warcraft competitions—were all forbidden.
If these three events were canceled, wCG would practically lose its purpose. They would lose 80% of their audience traffic, rendering it hardly a world-class esports competition.
"How could they do this... How could they be so overbearing!!" Li Xianghe muttered to himself as if his intellect had been compromised. The entire office fell into silence, utterly devoid of sound.
"Chairman, perhaps we should try to communicate with Blizzard and see if there's any misunderstanding!" a staff member couldn't help but suggest.
"Yes, let's go and communicate with Blizzard immediately. There must be a misunderstanding!" Li Xianghe said hastily. However, he didn't call Blizzard's representative directly. Instead, he first dialed the number of a high-ranking friend who worked at Blizzard.
After all, he first needed to understand the specific situation. Why had Blizzard, with whom they had previously cooperated so harmoniously, suddenly banned all their games?
The call was quickly connected. A cheerful voice from the other end chuckled, "Mr. Li, what a surprise to hear from you! Shouldn't you be busy with your wCG? If I didn't have business in Europe, I'd love to visit China to see this year's wCG and the Warcraft III World Finals. Your team has a great chance of winning this year!"
"We'll celebrate together then!"
"..." Hearing the other person's cheerful tone and his apparent ignorance of the fax, Li Xianghe was taken aback. Then, a glimmer of joy surfaced in his heart.
Could it be that the fax he just received was fake, not from Blizzard headquarters at all, but a prank? After all, judging by his friend's tone, he seemed completely unaware of the fax's contents.
But the problem was, he had checked the phone number, and it was indeed the commonly used number for Blizzard's headquarters.
However, the other party's attitude immediately relieved Li Xianghe. But he still wore a dejected expression and said, "My dear Mr. Stone, it seems that wCG will be unable to hold the Warcraft III World Finals."
"What's going on? Is China prohibiting you from using venues?" Mr. Stone asked, confused and somewhat bewildered.
"No, it's your company, Blizzard, that's not giving us the opportunity to host the competition. I just received a fax..." Li Xianghe recounted the events with a sorrowful tone.
"This must be a disgraceful deception. Blizzard would never issue such a document. You are the best esports competition globally, and we are the best games globally. We achieve success through each other; this is the greatest partnership in the world. How could our company issue such a foolish document to terminate our cooperation?"
"Rest assured, this is undoubtedly a scam. Please do not be deceived!" Stone immediately said. In his opinion, there was no question that this was a scam, and headquarters would absolutely not make such a foolish decision.
"But we checked the phone number, and it is indeed your company's headquarters number!" Li Xianghe said cautiously.
"There's such a thing?" Stone was also taken aback, then he chuckled, "You don't need to worry about this. There are devices on the market that can alter dialing numbers. It's possible for the other party to use such a device to change the dialing number!"
"And this number is universally used within our company; many departments can use this number to send emails to various partners. So, perhaps someone intended to play a prank on you. You know we're a game company, and there are many unreliable people. You don't need to worry about these things at all; it's definitely a scam!" Stone asserted once again. This made Li Xianghe's relieved heart feel even more secure. After all, if a Blizzard executive said so, how could it be false?
However, Li Xianghe remained cautious. He once again pleaded, "Mr. Stone, please ask headquarters about the situation. If there are no problems, please send me a reply so I can be completely at ease!"
"No problem, I'll call them right now. I also need to report this situation to headquarters. This is clearly a malicious fraud case that could damage our company's reputation and interests. Even if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have to report this malicious incident to headquarters!" Mr. Stone said.
Li Xianghe thanked him profusely over the phone before hanging up with satisfaction. A confident smile returned to his face, and he gave his subordinate a reassuring look. The entire organizing committee's office was once again filled with merriment.
This must be a prank; there was no doubt about it. How could Blizzard inexplicably sever ties with wCG? It was like an April Fool's joke!
Meanwhile, after hanging up the phone, Mr. Stone immediately dialed headquarters. He directly contacted Blizzard's legal department and angrily reported the malicious fraud incident he had just received. He then demanded that the legal department immediately handle this malicious incident to prevent further damage.
However, what Stone never expected was that after he finished speaking in anger, a staff member from the legal department who answered the phone, carefully choosing their words, cautiously said to Stone, "Mr. Director, you might have misunderstood. This is not a malicious fraud incident; this is the fax that our legal department just sent to the wCG organizing committee!"
"..." Stone opened his mouth, unable to utter a sound. His mind was in chaos. After forcing himself to calm down, he spoke again, "Are you out of your mind? Are you playing a joke on me?"
"Sir, I sent this fax myself just now, how could I be lying!" the other party replied with a wry smile.
"Nonsense! Who gave you the guts to send such a fax? Are you trying to ruin our Blizzard's esports career?" Stone rebuked angrily. At this moment, he seriously suspected that this legal department staff member was an insider sent by another company, intending to destroy Blizzard.
"Sir, you misunderstand me. How would I dare to send such a fax privately? This is an order from our superior!" the staff member said with a mournful tone.
"Who? Is it your director? That scoundrel Peter? Has he gone insane?" Stone bombarded him with four angry questions.
"No, sir, our director has already bought a plane ticket and rushed to China. This order was personally issued by the President to our legal department's office. All our colleagues in the office heard the President's order with our own ears. This is really not something I did alone!" the other party quickly explained.
"..." Stone fell silent. He didn't believe this legal department member would dare to lie like this. Could this truly be an order from the President?
But that seemed too absurd. How could the President issue such a foolish order? This would not only destroy Blizzard's development in the esports industry but, more importantly, would ruin Blizzard's reputation.
How many people worldwide were eagerly awaiting the wCG Global Finals? How much anticipation they had for Blizzard's games at this moment. When they learned that wCG could not host these competitions, their anger would be immense, and this anger would directly overwhelm Blizzard.
It was possible that the great reputation of "Blizzard quality, definitely a masterpiece" and "Blizzard is the world's first-class game company" circulating worldwide would crumble in an instant.
Thinking of this, Stone immediately and impatiently dialed the company's President, Allen Adham, and said, "Mr. President, I just received news that you..."
"Did the wCG organizing committee inquire about the situation with you?" Allen Adham asked, interrupting Stone before he could finish.
"Yes... Sir, is this order truly from you..." Stone licked his lips, forced to believe this worst-case scenario.
"That's right. I personally issued the order at the legal department, and the company will soon release an official announcement to inform all players of this news!" Allen Adham said calmly.
"Sir, please don't tell me you've gone mad!" Stone said incredulously.
"I haven't gone mad. I am completely rational right now!" Allen Adham replied.
"Then why did you issue such a foolish order? I implore you to withdraw this order immediately!" Stone said.
"It cannot be withdrawn, because this is an order personally issued by our Chairman, Mr. Huang He. If I don't execute this order, I will be removed from my position and replaced by a president willing to follow orders!" Allen Adham said expressionlessly. "Don't forget, we are Blizzard Entertainment under the Jiangnan Group."