Gods Unchained, an Ethereum-based rival to the popular card game, Hearthstone, has seen a surge in volume following the controversy surrounding Hearthstone’s developer, Blizzard. Per analysis by Coinmetrics yesterday, the boom led Ethereum contract calls to hit an “all-time high.”
The controversy started after Blizzard, which also developed the popular videogame World of Warcraft, took away prize money from Hearthstone’s top player, Hong Konger Chung Ng Wai, aka Blitzchung, earlier this month after he had expressed support for the Hong Kong protests.
Blitzchung had said “Liberate Honk Kong, the revolution of our time,” in an interview, and wore a gas mask similar to those used by Hong Kong’s protestors.
Blizzard said that Blitzchung had violated the rules of the competition, which mentioned that players couldn’t “[offend] a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image".
Gods Unchained tweeted that Hearthstone cared “about money more than freedom,” offered to pay for Blitzchung’s lost winnings, and gave him a free ticket to participate in a Gods Unchained tournament.
Following the tweet, since retweeted over 10,000 times and garnering over 33,000 likes, Gods Unchained sold out its Genesis Card Pack for 33,333 ETH, or around $6.2 million. The developers for Gods Unchained tweeted that its “servers have been hugged to death.”
Chung told AFP, “I don’t regret saying that stuff. And even now, I don’t regret it at all.”
“If we lose the movement, Hong Kong will end forever,” he said.