Devotion, a horror video game developed by Taiwanese company Red Candle Games, has been removed from games distribution platform Steam in the wake of a boycott from Chinese gamers over an image said to mock Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Red Candle Games said in a Facebook post it had pulled the game due to “technical issues,” saying the game would return after undergoing a quality check, while referencing the controversy surrounding the offending in-game artwork.
“We’d like to take this opportunity to ease the heightened pressure in our community resulting from our previous Art Material Incident. Our team would also review our game material once again making sure no other unintended materials were inserted in,” the statement reads.
Red Candle apologized on Monday for images within the game showing an ancient Taoist wall scribble containing the Chinese characters “Xi Jinping, Little Bear Winnie” – the Chinese name of Winnie the Pooh. Another in-game scene contains references to “baozi” – apparently referring to the nickname “Steamed Bun Xi,” which has been censored in China in the past.
Red Candle said the images had been added by a single developer without others noticing it.
“This is not the position of Red Candle and this is not the intention of Devotion,” Red Candle said in a Sunday statement on its Facebook page. “We are deeply sorry for hurting everybody.”
Other news from Taiwan:
► China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) chairman Chang An-le (張安樂), also known as the “White Wolf,” yesterday stumbled and fell into a coffin (video) he intended to deliver to Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) after Su said he would never surrender to a Chinese invasion. CUPP members were detained for brandishing a weapon and failing to obtain an assembly permit. (Taipei Times)
► The leaders of five Micronesian states have called for the Pacific Islands Forum to recognize Taiwan and China as equal states in what would be a groundbreaking gesture. The Pacific is home to six of Taiwan’s 17 diplomatic allies. (RNZ News)
► Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang denounced the U.S. move to sail two vessels through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, saying: “We resolutely oppose the United States taking provocative actions which are not conductive to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” (U.S. News & World Report)
► Kuomintang (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫), formerly mayor of New Taipei City, was slammed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for switching his position on nuclear energy. (CNA)
► President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) met with the foreign minister of the Kingdom of Eswatini in Taipei yesterday and said she hoped to see more Taiwanese businesspeople use Eswatini as a base for entering Africa. (Taipei Times)
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Editor: Nick Aspinwall (@Nick1Aspinwall)
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