Devotion Developers Will Not Re-Release Game “In the Near Term”

Taiwanese developer Red Candle Games, whose well-received (by those who played it, anyway) horror game Devotion was pulled from Steam after backlash from a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping, has put out an official statement that details a unanimous decision to not re-release the game anytime soon.

Greetings, we are Red Candle Games from Taiwan. To all of our players, industry and media friends, we would like to provide an update on ‘Devotion’. pic.twitter.com/wfGTUbHtHx

— redcandlegames (@redcandlegames) July 15, 2019

In the statement (which can be read within the above tweet from the official Red Candle Games account), the developers take the blame in full for the reaction the reference drew, and say they will accept all the consequences that came along with it. They also detail the “immeasurable harm” that was caused to the studio by the incident, including the studio’s publishing partner Indieevent (they recently had their business license revoked by the Chinese government).

The reference in question depicted Jinping as Winnie the Pooh, which can be seen within an in-game art asset. The game was review-bombed by Chinese players once it was discovered, and the game left the Steam marketplace shortly after its release in February of this year.

The studio claims that their decision to not put Devotion back on sale is to build back up good faith from players who engage with their works. If that happens, Red Candle also states that they may be willing to release the game for profit again sometime in the future. Maybe don’t hold your breath, though.