Assembly skal afholde kvalifikationer i en række spil for det sydkoreansk-baserede forbund, International eSports Federation (IeSF), hvor turneringerne er delt op i mænd og kvinder. Men det er ikke alle turneringer, som kvinderne kan deltage i, blandt andet Hearthstone - det sætter Blizzard nu en stopper for.

Turneringerne var delt op således:

  • Mænd: Dota 2, StarCraft II, Hearthstone, Ultra Street Fighter IV
  • Kvinder: StarCraft II, Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Som det kan ses, er to af Blizzards spiltitler en del af turneringen, men det vil skaberne bag StarCraft II og Hearthstone ikke være med til. En repræsentant fra Blizzard udtaler følgende om sagen ifølge Gamespot.

One of our goals with eSports is to ensure that there's a vibrant and also inclusive community around our games. We do not allow the use of our games in tournaments that do not support this, and are working with our partners to ensure they share the same goal. To that end, we've separately been in contact with IeSF and understand that they've updated their rules to make it clear that their Hearthstone tournament will be open to all players.

Det er især Hearthstone, som nager dem, da kvinder ikke har mulighed for at stille op i dette. IeSF har dog lyttet til kritikken og har besluttet sig for at ændre mændenes turneringer til åbne for begge køn, mens kvindernes turneringer forbliver, som de er.

As a result, IeSF shall have two event categories: "Open for All" events and events that are reserved for women. The events which were initially set aside as the male division will now be open to all genders, and the events which were initially set as the female division will remain as they were.

The IeSF Board addressed its reason for maintaining events for women, citing the importance of providing female gamers with ample opportunities to compete in eSports--currently a male-dominated industry. Female gamers make up half of the world's gaming population, but only a small percentage of eSports competitors are women. The IeSF's female-only competitions aim to bring more diversity to competitive play by improving the representation of women at these events. Without efforts to improve representation, e-Sports can't achieve true gender equality.

Debatten om at dele mænd og kvinder op har tidligere blæst for fulde gardiner. Men er det ikke okay at give kvinderne en mulighed for at få deres egne turneringer, eller skal begge køn bare samles i én turnering, da der ikke er en fysisk fordel til mændene i e-sport?