Having not shared any updates since February of this year, Red Candle Games’ official Twitter account finally posted an update on the status of their game Devotion, as well as their business as a whole.
The post mentioned that their China-based publisher, Indievent, lost their business license due to government officials learning of their involvement with Red Candle Games. Why? Because Devotion contained an art asset (an in-game poster regarding Winnie the Pooh and Xi Jinping) which was apparently offensive to the government — the government even made significant efforts towards removing the images off the internet.
Besides a general apology in regards to a lack of updates, Red Candle announced there are no current plans to re-release Devotion due to the incident. However, there is a sliver of hope for the future:
“As we reflect on the situation, we notice many players, industry friends, and the media are starting to understand that the incident was indeed a malfunction of project management, not a deliberate act. If, in the future, the public would be willing to view this game rationally and allow us the opportunity to rebuild trust with our players, Red Candle would reconsider rereleasing Devotion.”
Established in 2015, Red Candle Games is best known for their 2017 release of Detention, a horror game starring a taiwanese student in the ’60s who is trapped in an alternate version of her school in martial law-era Taiwan, and haunted by poltergeists. It is currently being adapted into a feature film by Warner Bros., and heading to Taiwan theaters in September. No current release date is set for the West.
— Michael Baginski
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