Following the removal of Taiwanese first-person horror game Devotion from Steam, the publisher of the game has also had their business license revoked in China.

The Chinese publisher of horror game Devotion, Indieevent, has had its business license revoked (via PCGamesN) by the Shanghai city government. The game was pulled from sale in February after in-game art that mocked Chinese president Xi Jinping was discovered (likening him to Winnie the Pooh).

Since then, developer Red Candle Games and publisher Indieevent have been trying to get the game back up for sale, but that is basically impossible now that the Chinese government has effectively blocked their business operations. The documents do not mention Devotion by name, however they note Indieevent broke “relevant” laws.

The report notes that while the People’s Republic of China government does not oversee Taiwanese companies directly, Taiwanese-based companies do get a lot of funding from China. Thus, any pressure from the Chinese government on their potential funding sources makes it impossible to ignore their indirect pressure on the game.

To be clear, the publishing for Devotion was handled by both Indieevent and Winking Entertainment, the latter of which handled publishing outside of China. When the controversy hit and the game was pulled, Winking cut ties with Red Candle Games, and now the game is seemingly stuck in limbo.

Developer Red Candle Games has been silent since their update in February, when the game was originally pulled from sale.