To say Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt has had a rough week would be an understatement. Aside from the major controversies surrounding the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, which has resulted in the game being delisted from the PlayStation Store until further notice, the Polish game developer and publisher has been under fire for announcing and almost immediately canceling the release of the Taiwanese horror game Devotion from its Good Old Games (GOG) distribution platform. Fans hoping to purchase the game from the platform have continued to voice their frustration with the cancellation of the game’s release.
This past Wednesday, Red Candle Games, developer of horror titles such as Detention, announced that its previously delisted horror game Devotion would be returning to PC digital platforms via GOG. This announcement comes almost two years after the game’s release and subsequent removal from Steam. This was due to the inclusion of a meme depicting Chinese President Xi Jinping as Disney character Winnie the Pooh, which angered Chinese fans who review-bombed the title on Steam, and resulted in the game’s publisher, Indievent, having its business license revoked in China. Only a few hours after the announcement of Devotion‘s release on GOG, the platform released the statement “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.”
This response has been met with major backlash for the platform and its parent company, CD Projekt, as many fans criticized the company’s blaming of “gamers,” which many have claimed is an intentionally ambiguous method of deflecting blame from the company’s management. Many have also interpreted the cancelation of the game’s release as a move from CD Projekt to avoid causing controversy in China.
At this point, it seems unlikely that CD Projekt will reverse its decision to cancel the GOG release of Devotion. All of this comes at a point where the company is facing one of the biggest controversies in recent gaming history with the butchered console release of Cyberpunk 2077. The launch has many fans turning to PlayStation and Xbox to request refunds, after CD Projekt Red released a statement last week encouraging them to do so if they were unsatisfied with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. CD Projekt’s stock prices also continue to decline following the release of the game, even despite its record-breaking sales.
If there is a silver lining to this story, Red Candle Games took to Twitter during the week to reaffirm its commitment to releasing Devotion globally, even despite the canceled GOG release. This comes even after the studio has announced that it is currently developing its next game. Since this announcement, publisher Poppy Works has announced that it would like to release Devotion both physically and digitally in the United States, however, an official announcement has not been made and would be unlikely unless the two companies come to an agreement.
Devotion was released for PC via Steam on February 19th, 2019, it was delisted on February 26th, 2019, and has not been made available to purchase outside of Taiwan ever since.
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