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China revokes license for Devotion’s publisher for endangering national security
Games released on Steam haven’t previously received this level of scrutiny in China, alarming publishers
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
It makes sense that Chinese gamers weren’t very amused when a hidden insult aimed at China’s President Xi Jinping showed up in the hit Taiwanese game Devotion earlier this year.
But now things are reaching a whole new level: The Chinese government revoked the business license for Devotion’s Chinese publisher, Idievent, saying the company “engages in illegal activities that endanger national security, social and public interest.”
The government announced the penalty in a document issued at the end of May, but that only recently became publicly available. Some publishers are now worried about what this means going forward.
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Luis Wong of game publishing company Indienova said that this incident “definitely marks a precedent” for a game publisher to be sent to the chopping block for simply distributing questionable content.
Another Indie CEO Iain Garner echoed that sentiment. He said the death sentence of Indievent has signaled to the rest of the industry that China’s government under President Xi Jinping is much more willing to punish game publishers.
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(Notably, only the game publisher, responsible for distributing the game, has been targeted in this case. The game developer in Taiwan, which actually created the game, is outside of China’s jurisdiction.)
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