Taiwanese developer Leonard H., has been on the receiving end of Steam’s censorship, but not for the typical reasons most Asian developers have been barred from Valve’s digital distribution platform. Usually when a Chinese, Taiwanese, South Korean, or Japanese game gets plucked from the Steam store it’s a visual novel or an anime-style game with some form of fan-service that an employee at Valve didn’t like. This time around, it’s an anti-CCP game that criticizes China’s authoritarianism through the lens of an experimental, cyberpunk first-person shooter called Red Virus.
Valve originally approved for the game’s store page to go live back in mid-July, and later Leonard was able to release Red Virus through Steam on August 4th, 2020.
The description for the game read…
“This game is a message to the world that we should unite and fight the virus together. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way since 2020. Pick up your guns and ammos. Let us all unite and fight for a free world – a decent world without the ‘red virus’.”
It managed to garner some decent feedback from gamers, sporting a “Positive” rating among the 45 reviews that were submitted from those who purchased the game, according to an archive of the Steam store page.
However, according to the SteamDB entry, on August 19th, 2020 Valve pulled the game from Steam.
Why? Leonard doesn’t know, but it came shortly after an update with a message supporting the freedom of Hong Kong.
In a message to One Angry Gamer, Leonard explained…
“Steam has double standard that they allow games attacking Trump, Putin, Kim, etc on their platform, but not allow game attacking XiChina. That’s ridiculous or maybe they ban my game because I just added Hk FREE protest in the latest update they refused to talk to me and close my support requests.”
If it’s true that Valve did ban the game for supporting Hong Kong, then this would be the first time that the company actively stepped in to ban a title because it promoted politics that the staff didn’t agree with.
However, since Valve has refused to communicate with the developer, we can only speculate as to why they had the game banned.
Leonard made a Twitter thread about the issue on August 20th, 2020, explaining that he tried contacting Steam’s support staff multiple times to find out why the game was banned, but never received an answer.
Unfortunately, Steam decided to take down my game from the Store page without telling me what’s wrong with my game on Aug 20th, I have contacted Steam and waited for its official response. Note that you can still buy the game on Itch. #RedVirus #CCPVirushttps://t.co/9OOZGQOiFY
— ライナー | Leonard 🇬🇧🇺🇲🇯🇵🇦🇺🇹🇼🇭🇰⚔️🇨🇳 (@CCPVirus20) August 20, 2020
However, this will not be the end. My fight against #CCPChina will not stop. I will continue to make games to spread the idea that #CCP is the true terrorism in the 21st century, the reborn of Nazi. https://t.co/Tz0xQFe2Gu
#Chinazi #CCPVirus #RedVirus #ChinaVirus pic.twitter.com/q07aXmf8Lg
— ライナー | Leonard 🇬🇧🇺🇲🇯🇵🇦🇺🇹🇼🇭🇰⚔️🇨🇳 (@CCPVirus20) August 21, 2020
“This help request has been closed.”@Steam decided to avoid my questions twice and closed my requests, again. No reply. I won’t send the help request anymore because I’m pretty sure @Steam have no guts to say:” I love RMB and totalitarian regime more than freedom!” pic.twitter.com/VDITDNKApP
— ライナー | Leonard 🇬🇧🇺🇲🇯🇵🇦🇺🇹🇼🇭🇰⚔️🇨🇳 (@CCPVirus20) August 21, 2020
There’s no doubt Red Virus is a very political game, but Valve is no stranger to hosting controversial apps themed around politics. In fact, they allowed Black Lives Matter, a non-game with an eight minute political message and zero gameplay, to stay up on the Steam store for days before it was eventually pulled after multiple reports and incessant complaints. That’s not to mention that users were banned for criticizing the game or badmouthing Black Lives Matter in the Steam forums.
They have a rapidly growing library of pro-LGBTQIA+ titles, and also went the extra mile to ban users who opposed Steam being used as a platform for LGBTQIA+ propaganda.
That’s not to mention that they had no problems hosting Not Tonight on Steam, which is an anti-Brexit game.
In many ways you can see how certain kinds of Leftist politics are allowed on Steam with no problems, but opposition to those politics are censored or banned. In this case, a developer and his game were banned from Steam with no given reason, and so far the only thing we have to go on is that Valve didn’t like the political message of his game.
You can still purchase Red Virus from over on the itch.io page for $6.40.