For Blitzchung, i know it's a bad look, but perhaps the Chinese government were putting economic pressure on them. Might have been a case of either laying a lot of people off due to lost revenue / blocked sales in China or banning that one player. It's easy to sit in an armchair and say they should stand up to dictators, but when you're responsible for people's livelihoods it's harder decision. Think: Trolley Problem, except in this case it's "ban one player" vs "put 100 of our employees on the street". Additionally, if the Chinese followed-through with those sorts of threats, they could literally block ALL players from China and Hong Kong from participating, effectively punishing all Chinese players for that one protest being allowed by Blizzard.
For starters, yes, the PRC put pressure on Activision Blizzard. They were about to release Call of Duty for mobile on Chinese platforms, and the PRC would obviously be less so inclined to approve the roll-out if Activision Blizzard were to be caught fraternising with Hong Kong protestors.
However, there are some things you are not considering when factoring in
why people are so fucking livid with the moral cowardice of Blizzard Activision. It is disingenuous to deflect responsibility from Activision Blizzard onto their critics, when their critics are their consumers and have every right to explain why they have been betrayed - Activision Blizzard sold itself as a company which protects its community and gives everyone around the world a voice; when they had to choose between greater profits and acting as the political arm of a government murdering its own citizens, they chose poorly.
It is ludicrous to expect that consumers should be understanding and empathetic to a multibillion dollar company for ruining the life of one of its own pro-players. That of course is the other aspect of it all, in that Activision Blizzard's E-sports scene attracts pro-players on the understanding that they can make a livelihood on the game. They do not part-time compete in order to reach the skill level needed to win; it'd be like banning a HK Swimming athlete from the Olympics because they voiced their opinion and brushing off this action as if it wasn't one of the sickest things you could do. Once you eliminate that trust, that winnings can be taken and entire tournaments canceled without warning (just look at what happened to the HOTS scene), you hurt your profits and damage trust you don't get back.
And they don't deserve to get it back.Forget about the evil of siding with a powerful foreign government over your own loyal supporters just to get a few more billions, forget about betraying your own founding company values for money, forget about ruining the careers of the two casters
who didn't even have anything to do with Blitzchung, but this notion of "they were just protecting the company staff" is complete fucking bullshit, because when they had record profits
they responded by firing 800 staff.
Activision Blizzard's CEO is one of the most overpaid CEOs, coincidentallyTl;dr
The company deserves to be ritually adored with a corrugated cactus