Hit Taiwanese horror game Devotion banned in China after hidden message links Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh
- Chinese gamers loved it, and then hated it, after they spotted what they believed to be hidden insults
- Indie title garnered positive reviews from 95 per cent of players within four days
In the horror game Devotion, a Taiwanese cult follower kills his daughter with venomous snakes. In real life, the game's developers seem to have killed their instant hit in China with Winnie the Pooh.
Released February 19 on PC games distribution platform Steam, Devotion received a positive rating from 95 per cent of the more than 4,000 gamers that posted reviews in the first four days. At one point the indie title from Taiwan-based studio Red Candle was the most popular game on Chinese streaming network Bilibili, generating millions of views from live-streaming hosts walking through the game for audiences.
But that wild popularity ended abruptly after some Chinese players spotted what they read as hidden insults to their president in at least one scene of the game over the past weekend.
In the game, a red seal with the names of Chinese president Xi Jinping and Winnie the Pooh were found on a poster used to perform evil spells in traditional Chinese culture. Written in Taiwanese dialect around the edges of the poster were four characters meaning “Your mom moron.”
Gaming publication Spieltimes first reported the incident.
Some of China’s internet users have compared their leader to the chubby cartoon bear made popular by Disney, due to a resemblance, but authorities have cracked down on any use of the bear as a meme.
After the alleged insult came to the light, Devotion was no longer available to Steam users in mainland China. Videos and discussions about the title also disappeared from streaming site Bilibili, gaming forums, and popular social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat. A search for “Devotion game” on China’s dominant search engine Baidu showed no results.
Devotion is a first-person atmospheric horror game set in 1980s Taiwan. It tells the story of a superstitious father ruining his family by performing evil rituals.
On Saturday, Red Candle issued an apology through Steam and Facebook, stating that the studio often uses internet memes as temporary placeholders in their creations. “It was an accident and there was no attack or abusive intention,” it said.
In an updated version of the game – which is still available to Steam users outside China – the red seal in question has been replaced with Chinese characters saying “Happy New Year.”
Chinese gamers, however, are not happy with the explanation, as they noticed more alleged political messages hidden as so-called “Easter Eggs” in Devotion. Some pointed to a segment in another part of the game with two newspaper headlines saying someone called “Baozi” was jailed for attacking school kids, and is possibly facing a death penalty. While Taiwanese media noted that “Baozi” could simply refer to one of the Red Candle developers, it is more commonly known as Xi’s nickname after he made a surprise visit to a popular steamed bun (baozi) restaurant chain in 2013.
Others parsed even deeper into the game to find hidden meanings. Some noted that the cult leader in Devotion is called “Lu Gongming,” which could mean “mainland citizens”; and the sacrifice festival of the cult starts on October 1, which happens to be China’s national day.
In a separate statement on Saturday, Shanghai-based games publisher Indievent, which handled Devotion’s distribution in mainland China, said it had terminated its partnership with Red Candle after players reported that “metaphorical political elements” still exist in latest version of the game.
Following the controversy, Red Candle has been flooded with bad reviews from Chinese Steam users. As of Monday, Devotion’s positive reviews had slumped to 40 per cent among nearly 13,000 gamers.
“The world only has one China,” one user wrote. “It’s stupid to offend mainland players.”
US-based platform Steam, which exists in the grey area of Chinese laws, has become an important source for over 30 million Chinese players to access both global blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto and indie tiles like Devotion. These games would otherwise be difficult to receive clearance for domestic release by the Chinese government, which has strict restrictions on violent, sexual or political content.
China’s third largest gaming company Perfect World is working with Steam developer Valve to officially launch a China-only version of the platform, which would be subject to Chinese censorship. The Devotion controversy also spurred concerns among Chinese gamers that Beijing would block the existing Steam platform as a whole.
