CD Projekt is yet again under heavy criticism by the gaming community. And this time it’s not about the disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077 either. Instead, it’s because the company’s PC gaming store GOG walked back on their decision to sell Devotion on their store.
— redcandlegames (@redcandlegames) December 17, 2020
You’ll likely remember Red Candle Games’ horror game Devotion from last year’s controversy. The indie game originally launched early last year for PC. Users from China found some content in the game that they believed criticized China.
A big red flag. Even more so when you consider that Devotion is a game by a Taiwanese studio. A massive backlash followed by Chinese users that ultimately led to the game’s delisting from Steam.
Red Candle Games released an official apology but that didn’t help either. Now, more than a year later, Devotion returned with the controversial material removed. This time, the game launched on GOG.
But that didn’t last long. Immediately, social media posts started popping up which showed their disdain towards GOG who allowed Devotion to their store. Only hours after the game’s second launch, GOG posted a Tweet saying that they are taking the game down because of ‘many messages of 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
Naturally, lots of gamers outside of China aren’t too happy with GOG’s decision and see it more as them giving in to pressure from the lucrative Chinese market. After all, the Chinese government could easily blacklist GOG and all of CD Projekt’s endeavors in their country at a whim.
At the end of the day, a heated debate about freedom of speech and censorship by undemocratic countries ensued. It remains to be seen if Red Candle Games will ever be able to release Devotion in a major store. One thing’s for sure though. Don’t expect to see any games from big publishers that are critical of China.
