Shortly after the release of the 2D fighting game "Guilty Gear Strive," a patch was applied to remove lore references to Taiwan, Tibet, Uyghur, and other regions. There was no mention of this change in the patch notes, and no explanation was given by developer Arc System Works or publisher Bandai Namco, but it is widely believed that this was done to ensure that the game would not be caught by Chinese censors.

Lore-wise, it was a relatively minor change of only two sentences, but the perceived bowing to Chinese pressure sparked an outcry, and now a "decensor" mod has been released that restores the deleted content. available on Gamebanana, this mod is called "GG-. World's glossary of terms, restores the original log 311, which restores descriptions of Uyghur, Tibet, Mongolia, and Siberia related to the Chinese government that were silently censored in the game patch.

It is not at all surprising that references to Taiwan, Tibet, and others were cut. China's vast number of gamers is a lucrative market, but it is also a tricky one to navigate due to complex and sometimes arbitrary content regulations. Content restrictions are not uncommon, with "Phantom of the Phantom" having a chat filter that automatically excludes Taiwanese and Hong Kong topics, and even the mighty Steam has been localized (and severely restricted) for the Chinese market.

Even in seemingly innocuous ways, games that violate the rules can be shut out altogether: the cult horror game "Devotion" was removed from Steam in 2019 due to an image of Winnie the Pooh that was perceived as ridiculing President Xi Jinping, and for two full years It was not reinstated.

While the presence of this mod may complicate that situation, the overall reaction on the r/pcgaming subreddit has been positive. This probably reflects longstanding gamer frustration with the Chinese authorities' attempts to crack down on unfavorable speech. Although smaller in scale, it is similar to the backlash against Hearthstone Grandmaster Chung "blitzchung" Ng Wai, who was punished in 2019 after he appealed for the liberation of Hong Kong.

It is also interesting to note that mods are being used to restore content that developers want to disappear: the "Guilty Gear Strive Disensor" mod, less than a week after the release of the "Mass Effect Legendary Edition" mod, the game's revived the infamous butt shooting.

We have asked Namco Bandai for comment and will update if we hear back.