Taiwanese video game developer Red Candle Games (赤燭遊戲) yesterday announced the launch of its own e-store to sell its games, including a horror game that has previously been dropped by a digital game distribution platform amid a boycott threat by Chinese Internet users.
The Taipei-based company announced on social media the opening of its e-store (shop.redcandlegames.com/en-US) where its two games — Detention (返校) and Devotion (還願) — are available for purchase in DRM-free format.
In the DRM-free format, a player can move the game folder and launch the game without Internet connection or third-party software.
Photo courtesy of Red Candle Games
“We hope to provide a direct and simple purchase channel for players who are interested in our games,” Red Candle said.
The launch came three months after Polish-based GOG.com walked back an earlier decision to sell Devotion on its store, following boycott threats from Chinese gamers due to hidden content in the game that mocks Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Devotion was originally released on Steam, another digital game distribution platform, in February 2019 to widespread praise for its setting — an abandoned apartment complex in 1980s Taiwan that created a psychological horror adventure.
However, some players discovered a Taoist talisman decorating a wall in the game containing the words “Xi Jinping Winnie the Pooh” in Chinese characters — a reference to an Internet meme that compares the Chinese leader to the popular cartoon character.
Also on the talisman were the characters nemabaqi (呢嘛叭唭), a phrase that has the same pronunciation as “Your mother is a moron” in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese).
Following the discovery, Devotion was quickly delisted from Steam, and the game’s Chinese publisher, Indievent, distanced itself from Red Candle Games.
Red Candle issued an apology at the time, explaining the reference as being caused by “technical issues” and promising that its team would ensure no other “unintended materials” were inserted into the game so that it could soon return to the platform.
Devotion was never re-released on Steam. Two years after Devotion was removed from Steam, GOG.com announced that the game would go on sale on its platform starting on Dec. 18 last year.
However, amid threats of boycotts from Chinese players, GOG.com retracted the announcement just six hours after its publication.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS