The latest entry in Nintendo’s Animal Crossing franchise is a hit in China, where it isn’t even officially available. Gray market games are common in the country, but local ecommerce platforms have taken exception to the family-friendly Animal Crossing: New Horizons and started removing listings on Friday.
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Why? No official reason was given. But Chinese Animal Crossing fans are blaming one person in particular for the takedown: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong.
It turns out that the game’s customizable islands have become rife with political decor, both in mainland China and Hong Kong. And on Thursday, Wong tweeted in support of Hong Kong protesters creating protest art inside the game. The game has recently become a virtual space for Hong Kong protesters to meet without breaking the city’s social distancing rules during the Covid-19 pandemic. Screenshots of customized virtual islands that take aim at Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam have gone viral on Twitter.
Familiar slogans from the Hong Kong protests that started last summer began popping up in Animal Crossing. (Picture: Joshua Wong/Twitter)
Soon after Animal Crossing started disappearing from Chinese platforms, Wong, who is secretary-general of the local Demosisto party, tweeted that he received a flood of emails and Instagram messages from angry players.
Protesters’ move into Animal Crossing is a kind of virtual continuation of months of pro-democracy protests that started in Hong Kong last summer. The protests were initially triggered by an extradition bill that would have allowed authorities to send Hong Kong residents to be tried in mainland China, prompting fears over prosecution for political crimes. Behind the mainland China’s Great Firewall, the months-long protests were first met with heavy censorship from the authorities and then misinformation campaigns.
