Coronavirus Attack doesn’t look like much at first. With Flash-era level graphics and assets that look like they were ripped from Paint, it almost looks like shovelware that you’d ignore without a second thought. But thanks to the game’s fairly obvious xenophobic tones, not to mention a strong red and yellow motif that echoes a certain national flag, the indie title has been pulled from sale in China.
Coronavirus Attack was released on April 24 internationally and, for the most part, has had a fairly small reception. The game’s received 793 reviews less than a week after its launch and is selling for a measly $2.97.
It’s billed as a “simple shooting game with upgrades”. What do you shoot, you might ask?
Well, you’re shooting people. With a virus.
The official Steam description pitches you as a virus that can “turn people into selfish-zombies”. “In order to control the selfish zombies virus, a secret laboratory has created a anti-zombie virus Coronavirus to against it. Your purpose is to prevent the selfish zombie virus carriers from escaping and infecting others.”
The stylisation of the virus in-game is very similar to a cartoon published in the Jyllands-Posten Danish newspaper earlier this year, which depicted the Chinese flag with the stars replaced by the coronavirus. That cartoon drew immediate condemnation from China’s embassy in Denmark, although Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen defended the newspaper’s freedom of expression at the time.
“We have a very, very strong tradition in Denmark not only for freedom of expression, but also for satirical drawings, and we will have that in the future as well,” the Danish Prime Minister said at the time.
But the Chinese version of Steam is in a very different kettle of fish to a Danish newspaper. Valve acknowledged last year that they were working with censors to ensure their digital marketplace was fully compliant with Chinese requirements. “There’s just policies and laws in place that we have to follow, so yeah, we’ll adhere to all of those,” Valve’s DJ Powers said in an interview with Eurogamer.
So naturally, Coronavirus Attack‘s life on the Chinese Steam store was not long for this world. MythZsGame, publishers of Coronavirus Attack, told Abacus News that the game had been pulled from Steam. At the time of writing, the game is still visible to Australian Steam users, but changing the Steam page’s country of origin to Chinese shows the game has been removed from service:
The creator told Abacus News that Coronavirus Attack was a protest game against the Chinese government, and those who left Wuhan before lockdown procedures were initiated. The protest element is pretty clear when you look at the game’s list of achievements, which include the slang phrase “NMSL” which means “your mum is dead”, and several achievements for liberating or celebrating Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan:
Naturally, the game’s reviews and Steam forums are being bombarded by offended Chinese players. But it’s not just a nationalist sentiment that might be pissing them off. Valve has been working on an official Chinese version of Steam for the country, but many users are still using the international version of Steam, which isn’t officially sanctioned in the country. Drawing more attention to the global Steam platform could encourage or accelerate plans to ban the global version of Steam in China, which is used by tens of millions of players. That access means Chinese gamers can play thousands upon thousands of games not yet approved by the country’s Ministry of Culture, which decides what games can and can’t be officially sold in the region.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/02/why-its-so-hard-to-make-games-in-china/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/qi9ua5jjoweztba2wveg.png” title=”Why It’s So Hard To Make Games In China” excerpt=”It’s tough making games in China. Not only do you have to fight against the stereotypes of Chinese culture surrounding Kung Fu, gang warfare and illegal street racing, you have to do so under the rule of one of the strictest governments in the world. All media consumed and produced within China’s borders is vetted by the government, with books, movies and games carefully curated so as to control China’s image.”]
For Valve’s part, DJ Powers told Eurogamer that “nothing will change about Steam global” when asked if the international version of Steam would be blocked in China, although he added that “there’s always externalities you can’t control”.
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