Taiwanese Game With Art Insulting China's President That Was Pulled In
February Is Still MIA
https://tinyurl.com/y38agmnv
Back in February, the makers of the P.T.-inspired Steam horror game Devotion
experienced a haunted house horror story of their own. The game came out, and
at first, everything seemed to be going all right—great, even. Reviews were
unanimously positive. Sales were good. Then players discovered a piece of
in-game art that seemed to disparage the president of China. Where did it
come from? The developers claimed the art was just a placeholder left in the
final game by accident, but blowback was fierce, and after a few days of
negative reviews pounding on Devotion’s walls like so much cold, bitter
rain, the developers removed it from Steam. Months later, it’s still M.I.A.
The offending piece of art mentioned Chinese president Xi Jinping and Winnie
the Pooh on a scroll next to the word “moron.” Winnie the Pooh is a
mainstay in memes making fun of Jinping, so much so that last year’s film
Christopher Robin was banned in China. Some players went on to theorize that
Devotion’s entire narrative was actually an anti-Chinese allegory devised by
Red Candle, the game’s Taiwanese development team; these players cited the
long history of tensions between mainland China and Taiwan as the basis for
the supposed insult.
Back in February, Red Candle denied these allegations, saying that the art
was a placeholder left in by a single developer as the result of a frantic
deadline, and that the goal of the game was not to “secretly project
extensive ideology, nor is it to attack any person in the real world.” Red
Candle still ended up removing the game from Steam, citing “technical issues
that cause unexpected crashes” and a desire to “ease the heightened
pressure in our community resulted from our previous Art Material Incident”
by combing over the rest of the game for more unintended art. Those
particular concerns sounded surmountable, though, like Devotion would just be
getting a quick tune-up and be in and out of the shop in a handful of days.
Three months later, Devotion’s Steam store page is still nowhere to be
found. The game’s Steam forum, which is still online, is full of threads
asking when the game will come back, if there’s any way to get it now, and
of course, arguments over Chinese politics. Unfortunately, Red Candle doesn’
t have any good answers for the game’s fans.
“Regarding Devotion, there is still uncertainty to the future progression,”
a Red Candle representative told Kotaku in an email. “Please kindly
understand that it is not convenient for us to share details to the public at
the moment.”
Red Candle’s previous game, Detention, remains available. After some initial
review bombs related to Devotion, its overall score has returned to “mostly
positive.” Currently, the top review references Devotion’s removal.
“Please, please return Devotion to the store so I can purchase it and
support your work further!” reads the review. “We’re rooting for you.”
====
就還願的事,國外在報導。
重點在這段
“Regarding Devotion, there is still uncertainty to the future progression,”
a Red Candle representative told Kotaku in an email. “Please kindly
understand that it is not convenient for us to share details to the public at
the moment.”
Kotaku寫信去問遊戲的後續情況,何時會重上架。赤燭回了未來發展還有著不確定性,無
法和公眾分享細節。
所以還是M.I.A (Missing in action,任務中失蹤)
--
「你要我做什麼?我不能......哦,可惡......」哈普羅一把抓住本資費,他正徒勞無功
地想把自己和雷桑拉上飛船。「你那隻龍呢?」哈普羅把老人拉上來,焦急地問他。
「基隆?」本資費像個被嚇呆的貓頭鷹,對著哈普羅猛眨眼睛。「好主意!聽說那裡的夜
巿不錯── 」
死亡之門─精靈之星
--
February Is Still MIA
https://tinyurl.com/y38agmnv
Back in February, the makers of the P.T.-inspired Steam horror game Devotion
experienced a haunted house horror story of their own. The game came out, and
at first, everything seemed to be going all right—great, even. Reviews were
unanimously positive. Sales were good. Then players discovered a piece of
in-game art that seemed to disparage the president of China. Where did it
come from? The developers claimed the art was just a placeholder left in the
final game by accident, but blowback was fierce, and after a few days of
negative reviews pounding on Devotion’s walls like so much cold, bitter
rain, the developers removed it from Steam. Months later, it’s still M.I.A.
The offending piece of art mentioned Chinese president Xi Jinping and Winnie
the Pooh on a scroll next to the word “moron.” Winnie the Pooh is a
mainstay in memes making fun of Jinping, so much so that last year’s film
Christopher Robin was banned in China. Some players went on to theorize that
Devotion’s entire narrative was actually an anti-Chinese allegory devised by
Red Candle, the game’s Taiwanese development team; these players cited the
long history of tensions between mainland China and Taiwan as the basis for
the supposed insult.
Back in February, Red Candle denied these allegations, saying that the art
was a placeholder left in by a single developer as the result of a frantic
deadline, and that the goal of the game was not to “secretly project
extensive ideology, nor is it to attack any person in the real world.” Red
Candle still ended up removing the game from Steam, citing “technical issues
that cause unexpected crashes” and a desire to “ease the heightened
pressure in our community resulted from our previous Art Material Incident”
by combing over the rest of the game for more unintended art. Those
particular concerns sounded surmountable, though, like Devotion would just be
getting a quick tune-up and be in and out of the shop in a handful of days.
Three months later, Devotion’s Steam store page is still nowhere to be
found. The game’s Steam forum, which is still online, is full of threads
asking when the game will come back, if there’s any way to get it now, and
of course, arguments over Chinese politics. Unfortunately, Red Candle doesn’
t have any good answers for the game’s fans.
“Regarding Devotion, there is still uncertainty to the future progression,”
a Red Candle representative told Kotaku in an email. “Please kindly
understand that it is not convenient for us to share details to the public at
the moment.”
Red Candle’s previous game, Detention, remains available. After some initial
review bombs related to Devotion, its overall score has returned to “mostly
positive.” Currently, the top review references Devotion’s removal.
“Please, please return Devotion to the store so I can purchase it and
support your work further!” reads the review. “We’re rooting for you.”
====
就還願的事,國外在報導。
重點在這段
“Regarding Devotion, there is still uncertainty to the future progression,”
a Red Candle representative told Kotaku in an email. “Please kindly
understand that it is not convenient for us to share details to the public at
the moment.”
Kotaku寫信去問遊戲的後續情況,何時會重上架。赤燭回了未來發展還有著不確定性,無
法和公眾分享細節。
所以還是M.I.A (Missing in action,任務中失蹤)
--
「你要我做什麼?我不能......哦,可惡......」哈普羅一把抓住本資費,他正徒勞無功
地想把自己和雷桑拉上飛船。「你那隻龍呢?」哈普羅把老人拉上來,焦急地問他。
「基隆?」本資費像個被嚇呆的貓頭鷹,對著哈普羅猛眨眼睛。「好主意!聽說那裡的夜
巿不錯── 」
死亡之門─精靈之星
--
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