Chat feature in Breath of the wildGacha-style game Jinshin effect It has been discovered to censor a variety of words, including references to places such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Tibet.
This detail gained prominence for the first time thanks to a video uploaded to Twitter by freelance journalist Kazuma Hashimoto. Which video Kotaku Reloaded to YouTube with permission from Hashimoto after he closed his Twitter account and offered chat messages that replaced the terms “Taiwan” and “Hong Kong” with censored characters.
the official Jinshin effect subreddit also has Scattered complaints were seen about the game being censored. Created 1 poster in a thread Earlier in the day He said that a “mistake” causes “Tibet” to be censored, while others pointed out that seemingly innocuous words like “words” and “enemies” also get star Treatment or treatment.
Such as Jinshin effect The developer miHoYo is located in China, and many see it as part of the government Ongoing efforts to prevent debate on topics it deems politically harmful. According to a report shared by game industry analyst Daniel Ahmed, Chinese regulatory practices prohibit anything that “threatens China’s national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity.”
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China’s influence has resulted in projects like Loyalty, Which is a Taiwanese horror game It included the mockery of Chinese President Xi Jinping, It was removed from online storefronts, but it was its reach It is also assumed Basis for the changes It was recently re-released from the Neo Geo classic Baseball stars 2, Which removed old references to Taiwan and its capital, Taipei, as sites for baseball teams.
It’s a complicated situation. While the Chinese government is clearly authoritarian at its core, these policies have also given rise to a growing movement in the gaming community that uses such incidents as a cover for racism and hatred of China. Jinshin effect It might just be the victim of excessive chat filtering, but as we’ve learned time and time again, China is more than happy to restrict free speech wherever it deems it necessary.
Kotaku I reached out to miHoYo for comment but didn’t receive a response before posting.
