Struggling to obtain a platform that would publish Devotion, developer Red Candle Games takes matters into their own hands with the creation of the Red Candle e-shop.
Red Candle Games, a Taiwanese game studio, found themselves in controversy over a reference to Chinese premier Xi Jinping in the first-person horror game, Devotion. The Xi Jinping reference that sparked the controversy was an in-game poster that read, “Xi Jinping Winnie-the-Pooh moron”. Chinese premier often has his likeness compared to the Disney character Winnie The Pooh. A comparison he does not like and is often censored online. The game was released on Steam in 2019, only to be removed from the platform shortly after. Devotion initially received high praise, that was until the game suffered enough negative reviews concerning the Xi Jinping reference that Steam decided to take action and remove it from the platform entirely.
We would hear from Red Candle Games, over a year later, that Devotion would be published on GOG on December 18th, 2020. GOG is an online distribution platform for games and movies owned by CD Projekt Red, offering a wide selection of DRM-Free PC games. Just hours after Red Candle’s official announcement, however, GOG backtracked stating that Devotion will in fact not be arriving on the platform on December 18th…or ever.
“After receiving many messages from gamers, we have decided not to list the game in our store,” a statement from GOG. Following this news, Red Candle asked fans to “please accept our most sincere apology” and stating though it will be a difficult journey ahead, they won’t stop trying to bring Devotion back.
3 months later, Red Candle Games is pleased to announce that both Detention and Devotion will be available for purchase on their very own platform, the Red Candle e-shop. Announced on the company’s official Twitter “Detention, Devotion, and our future projects will all be on the e-shop in DRM-free format.”
Devotion is now available on the Red Candle e-shop for $21.15 CAD. Bundles combining Detention and Devotion are also available for purchase.
