Minecraft draws ire of China’s porn watchdog

In a WeChat post on Wednesday, China’s anti-porn office said it had summoned representatives from NetEase, which publishes Minecraft in the country. Regulators have also kicked off an investigation on “suspected vulgar and pornographic violations”.

This comes days after state broadcaster CCTV found that some players in Minecraft’s mobile app used sexually suggestive words to name their worlds. One mother said she saw adults using the game to look for underage boys to participate in nude video chats.

NetEase has apologized, saying it will better monitor chats and other game content, in addition to taking other measures. But in a country where foreign games are regularly being altered, banned or removed, the news is enough to spook Minecraft fans in China.

On a Minecraft forum on Baidu, users are slamming NetEase for doing a poor job running the game. Some pleaded, “Save Minecraft!” Others say they don’t play the Chinese Minecraft at all, opting instead for the international version run by Microsoft-owned Mojang.