Twitch streamer Asmongold is one of the most prominent content creators in the World of Warcraft and MMORPG circles. But in more recent times, he hasn't been shy when it comes to criticism of Blizzard's flagship game. Because of many grievances, he made the move over to the competing MMO Final Fantasy 14 and was amazed at its quality. Partially because of Asmongold, folks with similar opinions about World of Warcraft have been moving away from Blizzard's game and over to Square Enix's.
This seemed to incite some controversy in the community, but surprisingly, not so much with gamers as with the developers themselves. The entire situation is convoluted, with Blizzard devs mixing in the ongoing sexual harassment case with toxicity within the World of Warcraft community. At the core of it, some developers are blaming Asmongold's criticism and have even toed the line too far, but it seems like Asmongold won't let up on criticism anytime soon.
Asmongold vs. Blizzard
While this was not the first time Asmongold offered public disapproval of Blizzard's practices, this drama may have been ignited when the Twitch streamer posted a TwitLonger on May 9, outlining many more recent changes to World of Warcraft, for example, how he (and many others in the community) feel that that game has become too focused on money over player satisfaction. This prompted his move over to the Final Fantasy MMORPG, where he's seemingly been quite pleased.
Fast forward to July, and an alleged Blizzard developer posted a rant to the popular internet echo chamber 4chan, accusing Asmongold of "cyberwarfare" within the World of Warcraft community. The claimed dev said that it was hurting Blizzard's sales, among other things. Asmongold thought this was ridiculous, and many others felt this couldn't possibly be a real Blizzard dev, but even Blizzard's Adam Holisky took to Twitter to blatantly call the streamer "an a**hole" for his criticism.
Then, in the latter half of July, Blizzard's sexual harassment scandal broke. The State of California is currently suing Activision Blizzard for discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace, mostly against women. Without going into too much detail, the allegations are horrendous, and Asmongold hasn't been quiet about his disdain in this area either. He completely supports the victims who have come forward and the walkout of Blizzard devs that recently occurred, further inciting more hostility in the community.
This is when the drama really began to gain traction, possibly due to tension already being high in the office. One of the many criticisms that Asmongold has made against WoW is that the "community is trash," and recently, Blizzard devs have started to blame him for this negative attitude. While Asmongold certainly isn't the only gamer to have negative feelings about the MMO in recent times, some Blizzard employees believe that he's influential enough to change the tide on such a massive fanbase.
Though, over the course of July, he's that he doesn't want his fans going after Blizzard devs to "defend his honor," many have blamed Asmongold for doing just that: sicking his viewership onto individuals for revenge. He confronted these accusations in a stream on August 10, where he discusses how many Twitch streamers have been doxed and swatted in 2021 alone. In fact, Asmongold's home address has been published on the internet. "I talk about things that I don't like about the game," he defended himself live. "You make it personal."
At the end of the day, Asmongold believes that the World of Warcraft developer isn't putting any time, energy, or money into combatting harassment. He hopes to go back to focusing on playing video games soon, he says, but it's unlikely that this situation has come to an end.