CD Projekt's GOG Adds, Promptly Removes 'Devotion' After 'Receiving Many Messages From Gamers'

Devotion, a well-liked but controversial survival-horror indie game from Red Candle Games, was announced and promptly un-announced for CD Projekt's GOG storefront after the company received "many messages from gamers."

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

The controversy surrounding Devotion that first caused it to get pulled from Steam after six days and now GOG to back off isn't that it's too gory or psychologically disturbing, but because it includes a meme of Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh.

Taiwanese studio Red Candle Games' game released in February of 2019 but was promptly review-bombed by Chinese citizens after the Xi Jinping meme was discovered. The studio profusely apologized for the meme, saying it was missed in Q&A testing but did not provide an explanation of how it ended up in the game. GOG's announcement that it had picked up the game seemed like an opportunity for thousands of gamers to finally play this hyped but difficult-to-obtain indie horror darling until the apparent backlash made them rescind the announcement. While no official explanation was given as to why GOG made their decision other than "listening to gamers," it is speculated that they received similar backlash as what the game got in its initial release.

The move prompted eyerolls and backlash from commenters who had no interest in the Xi Jinping controversy, and it was certainly magnified by the buggy recent release of CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077.

A critically acclaimed Taiwanese game has been purged from mainstream game stores because it contained a joke at the expense of Chinese dictator Xi Jinping. Shameful. https://t.co/uuUayljFDL https://t.co/10Klkk1fTG

— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) December 16, 2020

Been supportive of CDPROJEKTRED</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/GOGcom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">GOGcom for the last decade. Chinese bootlicking is where I draw the line. I'll remember this when their next game release. https://t.co/GdKGyV03Qe

— Smeeples (@SmeepUCA) December 16, 2020

Anyone that has been in the games industry for a week or two knows that "receiving many messages from gamers" is generally not a good indication of how to make complex or difficult decisions https://t.co/KZX2ssyxWh

— Rami Ismail (رامي) (@tha_rami) December 16, 2020

Everyone who complains about censorship in games needs to be taking a long, hard look at this situation. A Taiwanese company can't publish their game on any major platform because of one obtuse (long-removed) reference to China's president

THIS is what real censorship looks like https://t.co/AldEYfVzNP

— Jon Riesenbach 🎮 P5 Scramble (@moriyoshijon) December 16, 2020

Red Candle Games was gracious about the news, though it seems the path to getting their game back out into the market is more difficult than ever.

pic.twitter.com/SKI3SeW18s

— redcandlegames (@redcandlegames) December 17, 2020