Note that GOG has decided not to sell the game entirely and the cited reason is the "user comments" that came in during the hours between the announcement being made and the bail happening. Everywhere that I can see, the user comments are against this Chinese censorship, not for it. Leads me to believe that there was really only one comment that came in during those hours that mattered and it certainly wasn't from a gamer's tweet.
They didn't just decide to sell it everywhere but China... Also note that the newest version of Devotion, which I assume would be the one being offered for sale, already has the offending Xinnie the Pooh reference removed.[0]
Mark my words that the next step in China's soft power game here is to have entities like GOG remove any game that has a world map where Taiwan isn't explicitly marked as a province of China - the way they've done to airlines.[1]
Look at Abominable to see the strategy being implemented in movies.[2]
They didn't just decide to sell it everywhere but China... Also note that the newest version of Devotion, which I assume would be the one being offered for sale, already has the offending Xinnie the Pooh reference removed.[0]
Mark my words that the next step in China's soft power game here is to have entities like GOG remove any game that has a world map where Taiwan isn't explicitly marked as a province of China - the way they've done to airlines.[1]
Look at Abominable to see the strategy being implemented in movies.[2]
[0] https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/2187763/taiwan... [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-do-airlines-call-taiwan... [2] https://qz.com/1727522/chinas-illegal-south-china-sea-map-ma...