Maybe I'm an optimist, but I don't think it's a fear of being Banned in China. I think Cyberpunk didn't go as smoothly as it could have, and right now they need to be able to do business on the internet.

The ramifications of releasing the game could have Chinese Hackers up the wazoo for GOG...and cyber attacks, DDOS, and the rest is not something they really can deal with right now on top of everything else they are trying to handle.

I think GOG may release it next year sometime, AFTER things are more settled down and they don't have multiple bonfires burning at the same time.

It isn't a good sign when the nudity of Cyberpunk was patched out around the same time. I doubt it was the ESRB telling them to take it out. If it WAS the ESRB, why wouldn't they state that's the reason? Throwing the ESRB under the bus wouldn't hurt them at all, in fact it would make them look like the victim. Throwing China under the bus WOULD hurt their profits in the Chinese market. That is why I speculate it is the CCP doing this. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes out that gog was bought by some subsidiary of Tencent. I read that might already be the case.

Most likely that Steam doesn't want this game back for the very same reason why Gog didn't sell it, Steam removed games critical to China before and are working closely with Chinese authorities to create a China friendly version of Steam.

Wondering why everyone responds to an obviously throwaway account. But since everyone else is:

You are on the verge of deleting your GOG account. You want to tell everyone. But you can't put your name to the post. Bullshit. Paid propagandist probably.

If not, say what you want to say but please use your proper account otherwise your words are trash. If you're anything like me...

I am disappointed in the censorship. I will probably buy games at the same rate from GOG. Because I like games, and I buy games when they are fairly priced and worth the money. I could mention recent releases here.

If you look at the state of the world right now...this decision makes sense. GOG should absolutely be risk averse, in a difficult economy with a famously belligerent China. There are probably difficult questions being asked right now about why the initial announcement was made. It's not like PRC staff would deliberately buy a game and then ask for refunds while badmouthing the company...

But imo you shouldn't make decisions based on now. Yes people are fickle. And the PRC bet heavily on that when they started their campaign in western China. But people are getting to the stage of boycotting China over the human rights stuff (obviously people won't boycott anyone over games but the main actor is the same). I hope GOG knows which side they are going to be on if that happens.

(reserving the right to repost this as there are 100 different similar posts on this at the moment so I don't know where to post this and I don't want to create a new thread)

Until you realize how far the tentacles of the CCP extend. There's no way to get rid of their influence over just about every damn company, without heavy handed government assistance, which isn't likely to come. I"m just now realizing exactly what spot China has us in, and it isn't pretty. The question is, is US and Russia's military power greater than that of China's economic power? My guess is "no," nor do i think the US and Russia have any intention of trying it.

Sorry, I just read that as China is strong and scary so I should just give up without even considering changing my consumer habits.

Not necessarily. I'm thinking that we need to be more clever. I said it in another post in more detail, in another thread, but i'll say it here. China really doesn't like Winnie the pooh. Fine, with the free games market out there, i'm sure we can punish the markets for capitulating to the demands by freely making something that can compete, even if only by virtue of being average, shy of provocative and edgy in a way that brings it popularity. For example, I actually de-wishlisted Caligula Effect, 'cause I realized it looks a bit like other games i have (Neptunia). Then, someone said we should boycott it 'cause it's anti-trans, to which point the very idea that it was able outrage someone suggested to me that i should re-wishlist it, and so i did. I wonder what other goodies are hiding in that game. Similarly, i think it would be possible to make and release a free game on the internet, maybe a mario maker ripoff, perhaps with metroidvania elements, where your common enemies are 共匪 of various types, bosses being prominent CCP leaders, and a final boss of a yellow bear with a red scarf with a red-star outlined in gold, but different enough that disney couldn't even sue it's existence off the internet. Release it annonymously, and watch the shit show.

EDIT: Yes, I am aware of political games in the past being shoddy. That's why i suggest making sure it's actually made well enough to compete in the market if it actually had a price tag. When the companies are seeing that they are loosing sales to this free game, they'll either conclude their games must be cheaper, or that they must be willing to offend the big yellow bear.

Yeah I get the resistance to social media campaign boycotts - especially the whole gender/sex thing which gets bandied about a lot more than it should.

The fact is that China is involved in country-level persecution bordering on slavery - there are so many valid reasons to be against China right now which is why I find it laughable that the PRC goon squad is able to get away with so much on the internet/social media and why companies are bending over backwards to avoid offending China.

If Apple somehow offended China and didn't make it right, IPhones would probably disappear or start looking like Mattel Electronics handheld games.

As much as i hate islam, the religion, i don't like what i'm hearing about the treatment of muslims in china. Not just forced labor, but forced adultery/rape, and they're quite open about it. The problem is, these companies realize that they can profit alot more by bending the knee, because your average person doesn't care enough, and, even if they did, they could just hide it from them. They control the media, and they quite clearly understand that. I'm watching facebook regularly publish false statements, including about the most recent election, which can be empirically verified to be false. These companies have come to realize the level of power they have, and, for once, I'm actually going to side with the governments of the world in saying that it's now or never, if they ever want to have any degree of power ever again. China effectively rules the world, right now. Something has to be done to provoke them to be much, much more unrealistically drastic to the degree that the power is diminished by virtue of reminding people of the monster that they're dealing with. What is the US government, Japanese government, or really anyone going to do to excuse themselves when they unilaterally seek out to arrest developers for the game idea i propose? It'd be too ridiculous at the face of it, and, really, that cripples china, and that display of outrage from china that would inevitably flow (especially if it actually got really popular), meanwhile they being incredibly powerless to do anything about it, would just erode this illusion. If it could damage the gaming industry to a degree, even better, because it'd be a harsh reminder to china and the corporate elite that they do not have the power that they think they have. It'd bel ike the 2016 US elections all over again, but global, and a hell of alot more popular.

I can't stand watching NBA anymore because noone spoke up for the atrocities that were happening in Hong Kong. Then China cancelled NBA games, pulled product from Chinese store shelves, and the one guy that did say "Fight For Freedom, Fight For Hong Kong" deleted his tweet. Then Lebron and the rest of the China lackeys kept their mouth shut and fell in line like good slaves. It could get ugly in Hong Kong within the next 20 years, like civil war type ugly as they're almagamated back into mainland supervision. But having the ability to speak up, out, and even against the current political system is something many of us, and all Americans for example, consider a basic right that can't be taken away. So, fuck any country that wants to censor my ability to criticize their bs government and Winnie the Pooh leader.

If you want to delete your GOG account, then that's on you. Personally, I think that's kind of stupid and that type of behavior would inevitably see you living on a farm in the middle of nowhere, needing to create a self-sustaining livelihood without need or interaction with the outside world. Also, call your ISP and cancel your internet, TV, phone, because they're just as guilty and ten times more anti-consumer. Good luck with that.

Abstaining isn't the answer, but working in the system when you can is. Speaking up when possible, voicing concern, creating awareness, voting, stuff like that is how change happens, and slowly over time.

The problem with this line of reasoning is that people fantasize that anyone with the willpower to do this would be able to do this. In reality, the government would just seize upon your weakness. Remember Ruby Ridge.

No, i say we play their game. Where's the meme-starters on this one? there's people out there that love to see people go up in outrage, and the ability to enrage an entire country with something as simple as a pooh meme war sounds like it'd be apatizing with the usual crowd.

No they wouldn't. They could move production to another country without having to raise the price on the phones, because their phones have such a huge markup it's ridiculous. Also, fuck Apple.

No, realistically, they'd just up the price and throw it on your contract bill. It's not like this isn't the current scheme, anyway.