No offense taken, I'll answer to the best of my abilities. But to be able to give a precise answer, we'll have to put infold in a neutral light. Not good or bad, just a company doing what companies do.
They absolutely want to talk, but they must have lawyered up heavily.
It's not a matter of making money anymore but staying in good graces with their country so that they don't lose the entire company.
The biggest problem, as previously stated, was never valko but the 731 tragedy. See, when I brought up lingering lust it wasn't just as an example, it was to show how many turns they took to bypass censorship.
They like things to look "clean" there. It's why they have separate social media and to access ours, they need VPN. They're a very traditional nation. To this day.
So, back to the 731 tragedy: infold had found a loophole where they could exist freely and write freely. It's why the number went unnoticed for months. When the strategy of bringing valko down failed (and believe me, they were defending him to the very end from the cn bullies), the cn girls first made a fuss about valko invading mc's apt. That got the attention of a women's magazine (I forgot the name) which in turn spiraled over the hot pot misinformation, and when they apologized and clarified all of that but were still keen on keeping valko, cn bullies went and linked valko to isaiah's story which included unit 731 and human experimentation. This is something that actually happened (i'm giving the writer's grace and thinking it was a gross oversight on their part). That's when they canceled valko.
The thing is, any mention of that specific part of their past WILL get you in trouble one way or another.
But since this game managed to be a success, a worldwide success, they basically got a beating, if you will, in the form of a soft ban--they're stalling and revising their entire content so there will be no more controversy.
Anything infold says right now can and will be twisted.
If they acknowledge the boycott, they acknowledge valko and right now, acknowledging valko means going against the government because they crossed that big no no red line. Even the bullies who started this are admitting they never wanted the game in danger.
They need their game to be seen by their own nation as a game that brings pride. It's not that government agents are going through the cards and telling them what to change or not. Besides the 731, infold's never really done anything that falls under shameful category.
If they bring valko now, they will face backlash and they will shut down because valko is linked to predatory behavior and a mad scientist based on a real life tragedy.
If they want to keep their jobs, they need to bow and do as they're told, which is what happened. They didn't fold to bullies, they folded to the government.
If they post anything, they know they'll get comments about valko and what they need and were probably advised to do is to stay the hell away from the fire that's still burning.
Which is why comments about rating them up and showing support are popping up because infold can't do anything right now. And if you think they're not leaving little clues in the game, just let me tell you that hideo Kojima, creator of the metal gear series, left clues that he had been fired from Konami all throughout Ground Zeroes, the prequel to Phanton Pain.
So this fire needs to die out. Don't stop the boycott, but keep in mind this is very serious. The infinity Nikki controversy was about a reboot that didn't involve a national tragedy.
Any mistake they make now, even the tiniest screw up in a post, will have chinese media looking at them like: "this game has put a predator in game, the ratings don't lie, they don't take women's safety seriously, this is the worst kind of example we, as a nation, can allow to be exposed".
Because this is how things work there. They're not the land of the free, their culture is rich and amazing, but they make a point in separating themselves from the rest (like having their own social medias) for a very specific reason.
Basically, infold is at the eye of the hurricane. Everything feels eeriely calm while cars and houses are flying around them and they have no power to stop it, they need to let it pass.
If you're going (by you I mean everyone who reads this) to keep the boycott, my suggestion, as someone who literally lived there and experienced their country for years, is that instead of defense or offense, the best option is to comment how much you learned from their culture via this game, don't mention valko's name but do say that increasing yet another mythological being, would enrich this world even more since it'd be another opportunity to learn.
If you mention valko, even to say good things, it won't work now. Again, i'm not saying this because of a or b, i'm saying this because I know how the media works there. This fire needs to die out and if it doesn't and infold makes a statement, don't attack nor spam valko content. It seems counter-productive, but cn media needs to stop talking about him because there's no way in hell infold scrapped him for real. even if he's pushed to version 7.0.
That's what I can tell you as someone who lived there. They are super strict, and infold is legally obligated to preserve their image right now rather than risk it all by making statements. They already wrote two: the first one addressing the issues which did nothing but push them into making a statement where they made sure to say chinese culture and love have always been their goal and yhey want to spread it. You feel the pressure they are just by that sentence alone.
Oh lovely! You are an angel! Thank you very much for helping others and myself in trying to understand the situation over there!
I appreciate that you take all the time to write this down!
If one hasn’t lived there and experienced it oneself, it really is hard to understand. (Without judgement though!)
I hope it is okay for you, that I tag it for the fandom to see on here, since I think it‘s a very important insight and information.
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