Red Candle Games acknowledge strong support for 'Devotion', exploring global release options eg. working with western publishers

[Arthands]

Devotion's limited re-release in Taiwan is the first step towards bringing the game back in the West

Red Candle Games is taking it slow, but eventually hopes to "fulfill international fans’ anticipation."

www.pcgamer.com

The story is a little old and I always forgot to share it here until now.

A while ago, the developer re-released the game in physical format in Taiwan, after the controversy last year that forced them to pull the game from Steam. With the limited release in Taiwan they were hearten to see the strong positive feedbacks from fans and support from the international market. the developer is trying to bring the games to the rest of the world and is exploring various options, one of which is to find a western publisher (not surprising, I guess all the Chinese publishers is afraid of touching it for fear of being blacklisted by China).

The developer explains that this limited release is due to them wanting to minimize the risk because this is their first time releasing the game in physical format. But I think everyone can tell this is merely a quick dip to see the public and government reaction before they formulate the next step.

But why limit the distribution of the game in Taiwan? Despite the politically fraught climate between Taiwan and China, Liu insisted that this limited release has nothing to do with this current situation or past events. Instead, the studio simply wanted to minimize the risks involved with producing and distributing physical versions of their game. "For our team, this is the first time we commercialise our game into physical format. It is an unknown territory for all of us. Hence, by limiting the scale of sales to Taiwan, it reduces the potential risks involved," said Liu.

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"To be honest, we were a bit unsure about how the public would react to it in the beginning. For one, we know that a limited period of release in Taiwan is not ideal for all our players. Additionally, it has been over a year since the initial release," said Liu. "But when we saw the positive feedback from our fans, we felt much relieved." Sharing that the studio had received plenty of support from the international community, they said that Red Candle Games is, as of yet, unable to respond to requests for publishing Devotion on a larger scale.

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Liu acknowledged the strong show of support from the community. "We really appreciate the support of our international players. Currently, the team is working our best effort to seek chances and possibilities to fulfill international fans' anticipation."

At the same time, they're still exploring options, such as working with a western publisher, to release Devotion on digital stores. "We are always open to any sort of cooperation. As long as the cooperation is rewarding for both parties and that the end result is satisfying for our players, we are willing to explore all kinds of possibilities."

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Liu added that the Red Candle developers are currently focusing on both the physical release of Devotion and the development of their next game, which they plan to release online internationally. "Please give us some time and patience. It's definitely our hope that Devotion may one day return to the global market and be enjoyed by players worldwide," added Liu.

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[Lt.Chips]

Oh god please make this happen.

 

[Fat4all]

get in here, Annapurna

 

[CaviarMeths]

Really hope this manages to come out here. Detention was a very unique game in both setting and themes. Sidescrolling horror games aren't anything new, but there's nothing else quite like Detention. CCP can eat my whole ass for blocking this from release.

If it doesn't see the light of day though, I can at least look forward to Red Candle's next project.

 

[Arthands]

Sorry guys, I have just notified a mod to retitle my thread for better accuracy

 

[crazillo]

I soooo hope they can pull this off. Thing is, most other publishers in the west have a very strong interest to sell games to the Chinese market as well. And the Chinese government is well known to boycott market access in a case like this one, has happened plenty of times. I have extremely strong sympathy for the developer but it might be tough to find a partner for this project :( Is there any chance for self-publishing to global audiences?

 

[CannonFodder52]

Skipped importing a copy as the price was going to be way too expensive.
Really hope this gets some kind of wider release.

 

[Pyccko]

I'm rooting for them, man. Game is probably way too scary for me but I might just have to buy it on principle if they pull it off.