washington —
The release of a Chinese video game touted as the country’s first to meet Triple-A standards, has sparked a flurry of online criticism of the Chinese government.
Video games are given a AAA label when they are backed by big funds, highly developed and distributed by well-known publishers.
The Aug. 20 worldwide release of the Chinese game has been anticipated since its demo got more than 56 million views on the Chinese video-sharing website Bilibili in 2020.
On YouTube, which is banned in China, the game demo had more than 10 million views.
Developed by China-based Game Science, the game has players take on the role of the Monkey King, a character from the Chinese classic novel , and defeat monsters wreaking havoc on the world.
Although the game has no direct connection to politics, Chinese commenters took to a U.S.–based gaming discussion board ahead of the release to criticize the Chinese government and President Xi Jinping.
The discussion board on Steam, a Washington state-based online gaming platform, was hit with a slew of comments in Chinese last week that directly and indirectly criticized Chinese authorities and Xi.
One mocked Xi’s unprecedented third term as leader, saying, "I will continue to be Jade Emperor in . Raise your hands if you oppose it."
Most critical posts ranted against the Chinese government, in ways unrelated to the game.
"Overthrow the Communist Party of China and establish a democratic constitutional system where everyone has a vote," read what appeared to be the first critical comment.
"Thank you to the party, thank you to our great chief accelerator, Xi Jinping," another comment reads, mocking Xi’s policies as accelerating China's economic decline.
Another post listed the timeline of the weeks-long 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests and the subsequent violent crackdown that occurred when Chinese troops used lethal force against student-led demonstrators, killing hundreds, perhaps thousands.
Such critical comments of China’s government and leaders are not allowed on China’s internet, where an army of censors frequently scrubs websites and discussion boards of comments that do not follow the Chinese Communist Party’s line.
Observers were surprised to find by the afternoon of Aug. 16, many of the critical posts on Steam’s U.S. discussion board had similarly been removed.
Li Ying, a Chinese social media influencer and government critic known online as Teacher Li, posted his opposition to the removal on Aug. 14 on X with screenshots of the original posts.
"Steam is inherently a free platform, with a wide variety of games here, and players are free to express any opinions and opinions about the game," he wrote on X.
Steam's China-based website does not have a discussion board, and the U.S.-based discussion board is only available to users outside China. Those inside China need to use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN, which helps users bypass controls to access internet content outside the country that is blocked.
VOA reached out to Steam seeking comment about why the posts were deleted but did not receive a reply. Steam's discussion board rules do not explicitly prohibit political posts but say that users are not allowed to post “disrespectful” content and to avoid posting content unrelated to the topic.
While the game is not directly connected to the Chinese government, it did receive some official help and praise. The city government of Hangzhou, where Game Science is located, gave the game a grant in 2022. State media in the province, Zhejiang, described the game as "one of the most important explorers in the history of AAA games in China – an explorer that deserves applause and encouragement."
It’s not the first time has stirred up some controversy.
The game's developers have been accused of making lewd and sexist remarks.
Feng Ji, the founder and CEO of Game Science, in a Weibo post last year lamenting the difficulties in development, used words with erotic connotations and compared his desire for expanding development to oral sex.
Yang Qi, the game's artistic director, remarked as early as 2013 on Weibo that they would not pander to female players in the game's production.
"I don't need the reverse drive of female players. I don't take care of those lewd insects who come to pick up girls; some things are made for pure men," he wrote.
In response, a female influencer posted on the gender-focused WeChat account Orange Umbrella, urging Game Science to respect female gamers.