Devotion Developer Issues Statement After GOG Pulls Game from Sale

Devotion developer Red Candle Games has issued a statement on the latest chapter of the game’s controversy after the CD Projekt-owned GOG abruptly decided not to list the game in the digital storefront. The developer of the horror game apologized to those affected by the decision and called the situation a “difficult predicament.” It also reaffirmed that the choice to not sell the game on the platform was GOG’s decision alone. The game was supposed to be listed for purchase through GOG starting on December 18th.

The statement from Red Candle Games can be seen in full below in a tweet shared hours after it was announced that the game would not be releasing through GOG. Red Candle Games cited GOG’s vague “many messages from gamers” statement before saying it respects and understands the retailer’s perspective.

“Earlier GOG has announced on its official Twitter, ‘After receiving many messages from gamers, we have decided not to list the game in our store,’” the statement from Red Candle Games said as it began by citing GOG’s statement. “Though regretful but we are willing to understand and respect GOG’s decision.”

Red Candle Games may feel that way, but the consensus elsewhere is different. The abruptness of the decision was matched only by the abruptness of responses from people who criticized GOG for pulling the game. People responding to the message from GOG about the decision to not list the game immediately latched onto the “many messages from gamers” part of GOG’s statement and questioned which gamers, exactly, were so appalled by Devotion’s rerelease that they reached out to GOG in hopes to block it. Many suggested that GOG was pulling the game not to satisfy gamers’ demands but to avoid impacting GOG’s position in the Chinese market.

To understand why one would even begin to want to prevent the game from releasing, you’d have to catch yourself up on the game’s first controversy this latest one stems from. It was removed from Steam after people discovered the Taiwanese studio’s game contained a meme equating Chinese president Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh, a discovery which quickly spread through online forums. The game is currently not available to purchase on Steam nor is it available through GOG.

The developer closed its statement with a hopeful “we won’t stop striving” to suggest that efforts to get the game on a marketplace will continue.