Red Candle Games can't seem to catch a break with their horror game Devotion. Last year, the game was released on Steam, but was quickly pulled within its launch week, after players found that the game had a poster that compared Xi Jinping--the Chinese president--to Winnie the Pooh. While Red Candle Games stated that the inclusion of the poster was due to a technical issue, the game remains pulled from sale on Steam to this day. Following the incident, Devotion's publisher in China, Indievent, lost its business license, and while a direct reason was never specified outside of "violating relevant laws", it was implied that allowing Devotion to release with the said image included in its files was why.

After being unable to find success on Steam, it seemed that Devotion would be able to release on GOG, as Red Candle Games announced the game for a December 18th launch. However, shortly after said reveal, GOG put out an official statement saying they had decided to refuse Devotion to be listed on their storefront, due to "receiving many messages from gamers". The decision to block the game from sale has garnered backlash, with "fellow indie developer" Glass Bottom Games demanding CD Projekt Red and GOG remove their upcoming title SkateBIRD from the platform.

Source

 

[x65943]

This is ridiculous, can you imagine the outcry if a game got blacklisted for putting Obama or Trump in a bad light.

The world needs to man up and stop bowing to the CCP.

 

[Chary]

This is ridiculous, can you imagine the outcry if a game got blacklisted for putting Obama or Trump in a bad light.

The world needs to man up and stop bowing to the CCP.

Makes you wonder how much money GOG thought it would lose by angering that consumer base/if they had a decent chunk of funding from China?

 

[RedoLane]

That wasn't the kind of devotion I expected from them.

 

[simsimsim]

Damn this sucks so much. Steam and GOG, grow a pair! If the CCP cunts want to block those games in China, who gives a shit? But to go this far over a poster?
Man the whole world should just stage a giant protest depicting Xi Winnie in his real form.

 

[Ericzander]

This move by GOG and Steam is inexcusable. RCG bowed down to the censorship, apologized for hurting poor Xi's feelings, but are still blacklisted by both platforms. Such a shame.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

Well, fuck both storefronts in this situation. I'd say that Xi Jinping deserves to be compared to Winnie the Pooh given what we know about the HK protests, how they treat Uighurs, and the human rights violations in China in general.

If the poster itself is unused, as in, the only way to get access to it is to noclip or take a stroll through the files, why are people flipping out in the first place, then? I know why China would crack down on the thing, but either the "people asking them to take the game down" is a red herring, the people who asked to have it taken off of both storefronts are affiliated with the CCP, or the people asking for it at from REEEEEESetERA.

 

[Daggot]

Pure fucking cowardice. People ended up checking the messages sent to GOG within the 5 or so hours of the announcement and couldn't find a single person advocating for them not to release the game so we know who the "gamers" that advocated for it's removal are now

.

 

[SkittleDash]

Seriously, the only way to play this is to literally pirate it. Unless you had the fastest clicks in the west back when it was avaliable for only 30 seconds.

 

[Daggot]

Well, fuck both storefronts in this situation. I'd say that Xi Jinping deserves to be compared to Winnie the Pooh given what we know about the HK protests, how they treat Uighurs, and the human rights violations in China in general.

If the poster itself is unused, as in, the only way to get access to it is to noclip or take a stroll through the files, why are people flipping out in the first place, then? I know why China would crack down on the thing, but either the "people asking them to take the game down" is a red herring, the people who asked to have it taken off of both storefronts are affiliated with the CCP, or the people asking for it at from REEEEEESetERA.

IIRC they pulled the game from steam themselves after the reviewbombing. They cited bugs and community pressure as a reason and they decided not to relist themselves. I'll edit the post when I can find their statement.

EDIT: found it
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1006510/discussions/0/1796278072845376475/

 

[Deleted User]

they do this after an internal call stating to regain people's trust lol
yeah, nice. people need to stop bending over to china, and make china bend over instead

 

[Deleted User]

Being casual SJW is one thing and may work well in niche circles; as they say, everyone's a gangsta until the FBI, CIA or the Chinese Government come a-knocking.

If you're going to stir the hornet's nest, best be ready to get stung or, worst case, die on that hill.
You'd think people would learn when even Disney has the common sense to filter what they send through.

This is the same mindset of people who'd pick a fight with a wild animal and then cry home about being a victim.
Either these people are naive or they believe those that support them are naive enough to rally behind their poor life choices.

 

[RyRyIV]

Man I hate those darned technical issues that equate censorship-happy world leaders to Winnie the Pooh

 

[LeyendaV]

First the awful situation of Cyberpunk 2077, and now this. CDPR scored two strikes in one week, talking about how to quickly losing the support of your community.

 

[x65943]

Reading more about this, apparently there was also a newspaper in the game that had a story about a man named "baozi" killing children.

Apparently Baozi is a nickname for Xi. I find this somewhat comical because Baozi "包子" literally just means steamed bun in chinese.

 

[AlanJohn]

However, shortly after said reveal, GOG put out an official statement saying they had decided to refuse Devotion to be listed on their storefront, due to "receiving many messages from gamers".

Picture of those 'gamers' writing to GOG:

 

[SuperDan]

Pretty Dumb if you ask me .............. especially after playing Cyberpunk Most of this week ...dildos everywhere ass eating posters ...... Jonny Silverhand having sex and worst of all .. posters saying pineapple on pizza is illegal ...........

 

[gnmmarechal]

Pretty Dumb if you ask me .............. especially after playing Cyberpunk Most of this week ...dildos everywhere ass eating posters ...... Jonny Silverhand having sex and worst of all .. posters saying pineapple on pizza is illegal ...........

A pineapple on pizza comrade!

 

[Bladexdsl]

welcome to the generation of snowflakes who can't take a joke.

 

[ChaosEternal]

And so China continues to continues to influence what speech is allowed in its strategic rivals. The sooner governments pass laws prohibiting this kind of malign influence, the better.