The developers of Devotion apologize again, but can’t promise the game will return

Critically-acclaimed indie horror game Devotion was pulled off the market in February following the discovery of disparaging remarks against Chinese president Xi Jinping printed on in-game assets. In a rare interview granted to the team at Eurogamer, the developers continue to apologize for what they term a “careless and unprofessional act.” They remain unable to say when, or if, the game will be re-released.

Devotion appeared on Steam earlier this year, only to rocket to the top of the platform’s best-sellers list. Once assets that mocked the Chinese president were discovered, however, the game was mercilessly review-bombed before eventually being removed from sale.

In our review, Polygon called the game “beautiful and mesmerizing.” Unfortunately, the only way to experience it today is via piracy. According to the developers that’s unlikely to change any time soon; Red Candle Games told Eurogamer there was no “exact date nor timeline for its re-release.”

It went on to continue to apologize for the controversial content, which it’s done repeatedly throughout the summer.

“During the first week of its sale, the happiest thing for our team was to be able to share with our audience, families and friends the thing we had been working so hard on, and to showcase our creation to the world,” wrote Red Candle Games in an email interview with Eurogamer. “We are sad to see Devotion, which includes all of our partners’ and Red Candle Games’ efforts, gone in vain following the incident. Due to our careless and unprofessional act, our audience is unable to experience the game, and for this, we feel truly sorry.”

Red Candle went on to say that production would continue on other titles.

“As a company, we want the public to know that we will continue our work,” it said. “And hopefully in the future we will earn more trust from our audience.”