A Taiwan-developed horror computer game being boycotted by Chinese netizens over an image mocking Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) was removed from global digital distribution platform Steam on Tuesday, just seven days after its release.
The game’s Taiwanese developer, Red Candle Games, said on Facebook that it pulled Devotion (還願) from Steam because of technical problems and alluded to the boycott caused by the artwork that angered Chinese users.
“Due to technical issues that cause unexpected crashes and among other reasons, we are pulling Devotion off from steam store to have another complete QA [quality assurance] check,” the company said in an English-language statement.
Photo: Lo Tzu-hsin, Taipei Times
“At the same time we’d like to take this opportunity to ease the heightened pressure in our community resulted from our previous Art Material Incident,” Red Candle Games said. “Our team would also review our game material once again making sure no other unintended materials was inserted in.”
“Hopefully this would help all audience to focus on the game itself again upon its return,” it said.
The horror puzzle game was released on Tuesday last week, but soon faced a boycott by Chinese users, creating a controversy that has been played up in local media.
Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) defended the game and criticized China’s censorship and control over the media.
“Only in countries with democracy and freedom can creation be free from restrictions,” Chen said.
A screenshot on a Chinese microblogging site of a charm amulet hanging on the wall of a room in the game angered Chinese netizens after it was noticed that the names of Xi and Winnie-the-Pooh were written on the amulet in red.
The reference was unrelated to any aspect of the game.
Winnie-the-Pooh has been used to mock Xi since a picture of the Chinese leader walking with then-US president Barack Obama in 2013 spurred comparisons to Winnie-the-Pooh walking with Tigger.
SELF-RELIANCE: Taiwan would struggle to receive aid in the event of an invasion, so it must prepare to ‘hold its own’ for the first 70 days of a war, a defense expert said Taiwan should strengthen infrastructure, stock up on reserves and step up efforts to encourage Taiwanese to fight against an enemy, legislators and experts said on Tuesday last week. The comments sought to summarize what the nation should learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exceeded 300 days, since Feb. 24 last year. Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that the war in Ukraine highlighted the importance of being ready for war. Taiwan’s development of an “asymmetrical warfare” doctrine and extending mandatory conscription to one year is a good start to preparation of defense against a
The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented. Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday. However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review. Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors. First, the center
END OF SERIES: As the first generation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are set to expire, the CECC would no longer offer them to children younger than four years old The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of a person infected with the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2. The Taiwanese man in his 20s arrived from Canada on Jan. 22, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division. He tested positive after reporting having a runny nose and muscle soreness while in airport quarantine, Lo said. The XBB.1.5 subvariant is the dominant strain in the US, but there is no evidence to suggest that it causes more severe illness than other Omicron subvariants, he said,
NORMALIZING TIES: The delegation led by the KMT’s Johnny Chiang is to meet with British lawmakers, think tanks and business groups to discuss developments A legislative delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) arrived in the UK yesterday to rally support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Chiang heads the Legislative Yuan’s Taiwan-UK Interparliamentary Amity Association. The delegation also includes KMT legislators Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞), Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), Sandy Yu (游毓蘭) and Wu I-ding (吳怡玎). The group is to meet with British lawmakers Alicia Kearns, who chairs the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House Defence Select Committee; and Bob Stewart, who cochairs the
RSS