The state of California filed a massive lawsuit against Activision Blizzard in July 2021, alleging that Blizzard employees had engaged in workplace discrimination against women and fostered a “pervasive frat boy culture” at the company.
Following the allegations, the World of Warcraft developer changed several high-level personnel and began updating in-game content to remove controversial NPC names and achievement titles.
Fans have urged Blizzard to focus on combating toxicity rather than censoring the game’s art and quests, as outrage has grown.
After one player posted their discovery on Reddit, word of the changes spread quickly.
The fan went on to say how disappointed they were with the change, saying, “I think this is severely disappointing.” It also shows that they are pursuing specific references.”
While they didn’t go over every playable race’s voice lines, they did notice some changes for more than a half-dozen of them. “Feel free to look at the others,” the player said, “I’m sure [the changes are] extensive.”
Blizzard was pleaded with at the end of the post. “Please give us some of these back,” the player pleaded, before encouraging others to do the same.
Fellow World of Warcraft players quickly agreed with the poster’s concerns. After seeing a Mecha Gnome voice line that had been removed, one player inquired, “Why would they remove that?” “It’s cute and wholesome, and it’s not at all explicit.”
Others weren’t shy about criticizing the developers for their recent decision to update World of Warcraft’s content in light of the lawsuit.
Blizzard’s handling of the situation was also criticized by Twitch streamer Asmongold, who many consider to be the best World of Warcraft streamer on the platform, referring to the developers as “mentally ill or socially maladjusted.”
While it appears that more changes are on the way for the MMO as a result of Activision Blizzard’s ongoing legal battle, it also appears that fans have no plans to change their minds about the updates anytime soon.