Horror Game Pulled From Again Backlash

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

Twitch's hottest psychological horror game Devotion takes players through an abased 1980s apartment complex in Taiwan where they have to figure out what happened to the religious family that once lived at that place. It'south the second horror game from the Taiwanese studio Crimson Candle Games, which also produced Detention. 1 unexpected Easter egg on the walls, though: a poster of a cursed talisman that says "Xi Jinping Winnie-the-Pooh moron."

As of 2:20PM ET, Devotion'south Steam folio went down, although the Steam page for the game'southward soundtrack (and a "deluxe" bundle that now only includes that soundtrack) remained upwardly. According to SteamDB, which tracks changes on the Steam storefront, the game was indeed removed. It too appears that Red Candle Games has removed all its YouTube videos of the game.

Cherry Candle Games wrote in a postal service published to Facebook and Steam today: "Due to technical issues that cause unexpected crashes and among other reasons, we are pulling Devotion off from Steam store to have another complete QA cheque." Information technology also stated that it would take the time to review the game for whatsoever other controversial material, in lite of Chinese users' outrage. "Our squad would also review our game fabric once once again making sure no other unintended materials was inserted in. Hopefully this would assist all audience to focus on the game itself again upon its return."

Image: via ResetEra forums

Chinese internet users have been suggesting the president bears a strong likeness to Winnie the Pooh in natural language-in-cheek memes for years, but their efforts have largely been censored. The memes fifty-fifty crossed over to Reddit this month, equally users protested Chinese conglomerate Tencent's investment in Reddit past filling upwards the site's front page with Winnie the Pooh memes and photos of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

So it's clear that making fun of Xi Jinping through memes is off-white play to many Chinese internet users. But many reviews on Steam said that the real reason why the Easter egg ended up being so antagonizing was because information technology felt like the developers of Ruddy Candle Games were hiding political views within a product and baiting Chinese users into ownership 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 Party, which lost the ceremonious war, fled to Taiwan, the question of whether Taiwan is a country 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 level from Beijing. Some in Taiwan still concur views that it should remain its own state, practicing republic.

Image: YouTube via Kouki

The offending poster blends in with the other wall decorations, then that only an observant gamer would even option upwards on information technology. Only information technology was still enough to bring the game's overall rating on Steam downward to be mostly negative. Mind you, it's not clear if those reviewing Devotion are actual players from China or merely paid internet 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 nil well-nigh those message until they are revealed as late as yesterday."

Ruby Candle Games apologized on Steam on Saturday, proverb that the squad had used internet slang every bit placeholders while working on the game, but 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 deeply sorry for the trouble it caused to everyone, and that nosotros sincerely ask for the forgiveness of our players," Red Candle Games wrote.

One user who self-identified equally Taiwanese on Steam said that even though Red Candle Games issued a patch to remove the offensive poster, Chinese players have downloaded a pirated version of Devotion that couldn't be patched and still connected to offend Chinese users. It'southward non clear how Blood-red Candle Games would fix a pirated version, though.

In a later statement published today, Carmine Candle Games connected: "It is non Scarlet Candle's vision to secretly project all-encompassing ideology, nor is it to attack any person in the real world. Even if the sensitive art chemical element was wrongfully placed before, we kindly ask yous non to over interpret other game textile." It noted that its official Weibo account had been close down 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 Communist china, partnering with Shanghai-based video game developer Perfect World to aid it transition better with local laws. But Chinese gamers aren't exactly excited for a localized version to launch — the global version of Steam is however attainable to them at present, and they're agape the local version would supercede it with a much more limited selection of games.

Update February 25th, 5:50PM ET: This post has been updated with details from Crimson 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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