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Taiwanese studio Red Candle Games seemingly remains committed to re-releasing their troubled horror title, Devotion.
Devotion has had an incredibly troubled history. The game released back in February 2019 on Steam, and initially was uncontroversial, and was received positively. Unfortunately, the game attracted political trouble when a meme likening Chinese President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh was discovered in the game, a comparison Jingping is apparently less than fond of.
The meme was included in the game as an easter egg, a poster referencing “Xi Jinping Winnie the Pooh moron.”
The game was subsequently review bombed on Steam, before being removed entirely from the storefront.
That seemed to be the end of it, until retailer GOG announced (and then within hours backtracked on) oa re-release of the game on their platform.
Earlier today, it was announced that the game Devotion is coming to GOG. After receiving many messages from gamers, we have decided not to list the game in our store.
— GOG.COM (@GOGcom) December 16, 2020
Details about these “messages from gamers” are understandably a little thin on the ground, but the announcement was widely received with derision on Twitter. Yesterday however, Red Candle Games responded to GOG’s decision on Twitter.
— redcandlegames (@redcandlegames) December 17, 2020
This has been yet another unfortunate turn for the game, which has been well-received by critics and fans alike, despite the controversy. Future details about the developer’s plans to re-release the game are currently unavailable.
