Yesterday, it was something of a whirlwind for both Devotion studio Red Candle Games and GOG owner CD Projekt. First, Red Candle Games announced that Devotion–previously un-released on Steam because of controversies regarding a certain Chinese politician–would finally come back via GOG, but it only took a few hours before GOG reversed that decision. However, Red Candle Games isn’t giving up.
In a post on Twitter, Red Candle Games acknowledged GOG’s decision to not release the game and said it was “willing to understand and respect it,” but it also said it would not be giving up yet. There’s certainly not a drought of online game platforms in 2020, with Epic Games Store seeming like the most obvious choice after trying both Steam and GOG. However, the Chinese conglomerate Tencent does also own a piece of Epic Games.
CD Projekt’s decision to pull the game before it launched was odd given how quickly it seemed to have happened. The company said it received “many messages from gamers” regarding Devotion, resulting in its removal, but given the political controversy surrounding its original removal from Steam, there may be more to it. There is little divisive about the game other than one piece of art, and when the game was first announced to release on GOG, reactions were almost universally positive.
Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt’s other main source of stress right now, with a rough launch, even on PC, that has reportedly resulted in studio executives losing up to $1 billion in stock. After initially suggesting those on consoles request refunds from Microsoft and Sony, developer CD Projekt Red said it didn’t have a special system in place to make this happen and even stopped recommending PS4 players request refunds. The game will be coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S with native versions, likely in 2021.
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