Taiwanese Game Pulled Again After Backlash

Taiwanese horror game Devotion has been removed from Steam by its developers after information technology drew the ire of Chinese gamers past including a meme that mocked Chinese President Xi Jinping. The meme angered gamers plenty that they left thousands of thumbs-down reviews on Steam for Devotion, forcing the developer to apologize, as spotted earlier by Polygon. Developers at present say the game volition return afterwards a quality check.

Twitch's hottest psychological horror game Devotion takes players through an abandoned 1980s apartment complex in Taiwan where they have to figure out what happened to the religious family that in one case lived there. It'southward the second horror game from the Taiwanese studio Red Candle Games, which also produced Detention. One unexpected Easter egg on the walls, though: a poster of a cursed talisman that says "Xi Jinping Winnie-the-Pooh moron."

As of two:20PM ET, Devotion's Steam page went downwards, although the Steam page for the game'southward soundtrack (and a "deluxe" bundle that now but includes that soundtrack) remained up. Co-ordinate to SteamDB, which tracks changes on the Steam storefront, the game was indeed removed. Information technology besides appears that Red Candle Games has removed all its YouTube videos of the game.

Red Candle Games wrote in a mail service published to Facebook and Steam today: "Due to technical issues that cause unexpected crashes and amidst other reasons, nosotros are pulling Devotion off from Steam shop to accept some other consummate QA check." Information technology also stated that information technology would have the time to review the game for whatever other controversial material, in light of Chinese users' outrage. "Our team would as well review our game textile once again making sure no other unintended materials was inserted in. Hopefully this would help all audition to focus on the game itself again upon its return."

Image: via ResetEra forums

Chinese internet users have been suggesting the president bears a potent likeness to Winnie the Pooh in tongue-in-cheek memes for years, but their efforts have largely been censored. The memes fifty-fifty crossed over to Reddit this calendar month, equally users protested Chinese conglomerate Tencent's investment in Reddit by filling up the site'southward front folio with Winnie the Pooh memes and photos of the Tiananmen Foursquare massacre.

And then it's articulate that making fun of Eleven Jinping through memes is fair play to many Chinese internet users. But many reviews on Steam said that the real reason why the Easter egg ended upward being and then antagonizing was because it felt like the developers of Ruby Candle Games were hiding political views within a product and baiting Chinese users into buying it. Basically, the game was tricking mainlanders into supporting Taiwanese independence from China and the hidden politics ruined all the fun.

Ever since 1949, when China became communist and the Kuomintang Nationalist Political party, which lost the civil war, fled to Taiwan, the question of whether Taiwan is a state or a province of China has been a subject of huge controversy. The number of countries that recognize Taiwanese sovereignty has slimmed down over the years, under pressure from Beijing. Some in Taiwan however hold views that it should remain its own country, practicing democracy.

Paradigm: YouTube via Kouki

The offending poster blends in with the other wall decorations, so that merely an observant gamer would even selection upwardly on it. But it was still enough to bring the game's overall rating on Steam down to be more often than not negative. Mind you, it'due south not clear if those reviewing Devotion are actual players from Mainland china or but paid cyberspace commentators.

Ane Chinese user wrote in a Steam review: "The game developers truly disappoint me when they dare to secretly include such a sensitive bomb while selling their products to Chinese players who, at the very beginning, know nothing about those bulletin until they are revealed as late every bit yesterday."

Red Candle Games apologized on Steam on Sabbatum, saying that the squad had used internet slang as placeholders while working on the game, just forgot to delete all of them. It said it had replaced the poster earlier on February 21st in a new patch after it was discovered. "We are securely deplorable for the trouble it caused to everyone, and that we sincerely ask for the forgiveness of our players," Ruby-red Candle Games wrote.

Ane user who self-identified equally Taiwanese on Steam said that even though Red Candle Games issued a patch to remove the offensive affiche, Chinese players have downloaded a pirated version of Devotion that couldn't exist patched and still continued to offend Chinese users. It's not clear how Carmine Candle Games would set up a pirated version, though.

In a later statement published today, Red Candle Games continued: "It is not Red Candle's vision to secretly project all-encompassing credo, nor is it to attack any person in the real earth. Even if the sensitive art element was wrongfully placed before, we kindly ask you not to over interpret other game material." It noted that its official Weibo account had been close downwardly and it was appealing to Weibo to reinstate it.

The controversy could have consequences for Valve's plans to launch a local version of Steam in China, partnering with Shanghai-based video game developer Perfect World to help information technology transition improve with local laws. But Chinese gamers aren't exactly excited for a localized version to launch — the global version of Steam is still attainable to them now, and they're agape the local version would replace information technology with a much more than limited selection of games.

Update February 25th, 5:50PM ET: This post has been updated with details from Reddish Candle Games on why the game was pulled from Steam.

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Source: https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/25/18239937/taiwanese-horror-game-devotion-gone-steam-removed-winnie-the-pooh-meme-china

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