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Animal Crossing live streams vanish in China
The popular Nintendo Switch game disappeared from ecommerce platforms after Hong Kong protest art went viral, and now it’s vanishing from live streams on Bilibili and other sites
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
After its sudden disappearance from China’s ecommerce platforms, Animal Crossing: New Horizons now appears to be no longer welcome on the country’s live-streaming platforms.
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On Monday, internet users started lamenting a ban on live streaming for the popular Nintendo Switch game on the country’s Twitch-like streaming sites Douyu and Huya. Some shared screenshots on microblogging site Weibo allegedly showing notices about the ban sent to streamers.
How Douyu won the live-streaming war to become China’s Twitch
At first, the ban didn’t appear to be absolute. A live stream of the game was still available Monday night on Bilibili, a popular streaming platform better known for its anime offerings.
Bilibili, China’s biggest anime site, covers the screen in user comments
But that had changed by Tuesday, when searches for Animal Crossing across several local sites failed to bring up any live-streaming videos. Abacus reached out to Bilibili, Douyu and Huya and will update if we receive a response.
New Horizons is Nintendo’s latest entry in the popular Animal Crossing franchise. The family-friendly simulation game became a hit in China even though it’s not officially available in the country. But it soon drew attention for becoming an outlet for political opinions.
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Last week, the game started disappearing from shopping platforms in China. Local fans of the game quickly blamed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, whose tweets about the game went viral. Animal Crossing had unexpectedly become a place for Hong Kong protesters to create protest art while stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic.
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