There are reports going around that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is being banned by some outlets in China. The reasons why aren’t confirmed yet, but reports are indicating that it’s related to Hong Kong protestors using the custom creation features to spread the message about becoming free from the Chinese state party’s machinations.
NicheGamer picked up the news from Ping West, who reported that despite the game not officially releasing in China, some Chinese e-commerce outlets such as Taobao, informed those selling the game that it would no longer be allowed through the service.
The ban notices that were sent out managed to go viral on social media services in China before places like Weibo cracked down on it.
NicheGamer suspects that this may be due to Hong Kong protestors using the game to spread their message, and e-commerce vendors were quick to shut down anyone selling the game into the mainland.
Joshua Wong, one of the protestors and the secretary general of the advocacy group Demosistō, had been publicly posting tweets about using Animal Crossing: New Horizons as a meet-up in-game since Hong Kong has gone into quarantine due to the coronavirus.
Animal Crossing is Fast Becoming a New Way for Hong Kong Protesters to Fight for Democracy! The #Covid_19 pandemic has halted public demonstrations, so protesters are taking their cause to #AnimalCrossing.https://t.co/A599kjlYsV
(This is my island!) pic.twitter.com/vjBhzw1nUa
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) April 2, 2020
2/ This is the first time that Joshua is playing this game. On a normal day, he’s an avid #Pokemon and #SuperSmashBros fan. “Frankly speaking, without coronavirus, I don’t believe HKers would go through such a tremendous effort in decorating their islands to be a protest site.” pic.twitter.com/3lqaswIrwp
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) April 2, 2020
4/ Is Wong making protest art of his own? “Yes, of course,” he says, though he doesn’t feel it’s ready to be shown yet. “I’m not professional enough, I’m still collecting trees.” pic.twitter.com/3P991OkZ75
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) April 2, 2020
Some believe that the rally point within Animal Crossing: New Horizons to promote the message of freedom for Hong Kong was enough to get Taobao to step in and prevent the game from being sold by resellers.
As Ping West pointed out, the game has not been officially approved to be sold at mainstream retailers in China since there’s no confirmation it made it through the new software regulatory measures.
However, now resellers are being prevented from selling gray market copies of the game to those living in the mainland. It’s also possible they took notice of the lesbian references in the game, and decided to ban it to avoid having the Ministry of Propaganda coming down on them.
Either way, even when attempting to rally support within the game, activists such as Joshua Wong are still being badgered by CCP shills for wanting freedom.
Can we take the dog for a walk？ pic.twitter.com/ksfyxhI5iu
— AmazingMLF. (@AmazingMlf) April 10, 2020
(Thanks for the news tip Ebicentre and MaverickHL)
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