But it was not enough. A few days later Dedication disappeared from Steam. In a post published on Facebook and Steam, Red Candle Games said it had withdrawn the game due to technical issues. The developer said it would also use the time to check if the game contained other controversial material. “Our team would also re-evaluate our game equipment to make sure no other unintended equipment was inserted,” the company said. “Hopefully this would help the entire audience to focus on the game again after returning.” Dedication however, was never re-released on Steam.
In July 2019, it emerged that the Chinese government had gutted Indievent, the publisher behind it Dedication, of his business license. Later that month Red Candle Games explained that the meme had done “immeasurable damage” to the team and the publisher. After some thought it had decided not to re-release “Devotion any time soon.” It added that the game could potentially come back if the public could judge the game “rationally”. Physical copies re-appeared in Taiwan last July. However, the GOG launch would have been the game’s first digital re-release.
Update 12/16/20 10:35 AM ET: GOG.com has announced it will no longer host Dedication. We’ve updated the article to reflect this.