Greetings,

We are Red Candle Games from Taiwan. To all of our players, industry and media friends, we would like to provide an update on ‘Devotion’.

(1) For the past four months, the art asset incident related to ‘Devotion’ has caused immeasurable harm to Red Candle Games and our partner. We would like to offer our most sincere apology to all impacted teams and personnel. Red Candle and its partner are assuming all responsibilities for the losses; we will not stop in our endeavor to prevent the damage from worsening.

(2) This incident has significantly and adversely impacted all parties. Our partner has been making every effort to assist Red Candle. While mediation is still in progress, Red Candle’s co-founders have reached a unanimous decision to not re-release ‘Devotion’ in the near term, including but not limited to obtaining profit from sales, revision, IP authorization, etc. to prevent unnecessary misconception.

(3) As we reflect on the situation, we notice many players, industry friends, and the media are starting to understand that the incident was indeed a malfunction of project management, not a deliberate act. If, in the future, the public would be willing to view this game rationally and allow us the opportunity to rebuild trust with our players, Red Candle would reconsider re-releasing ‘Devotion’.

As such, we want to apologize to the players for the wait. We are truly sorry, but please understand our decision.

Red Candle is grateful that our partner entrusted us without reservation during the game’s development in the past two years. Regrettably, we failed to meet their expectations and caused them to suffer undue hardship. As the game’s sole developer, Red Candle is inexcusable for this incident. We hope that our partner and related parties may be excused from further criticism.

Since Red Candle Games establishment in 2015, we have dedicated ourselves to craft the best gaming experience for our audience worldwide. In ‘Devotion’, its core message is about “the tragedy of a loving family twisted by the frantic belief of a religious cult.”

We made a critical and unprofessional error during the game’s production. It saddens us that the focus of the game has shifted drastically since the erroneous art asset was found. A revision patch was implemented immediately as we have absolutely no intent to stage a publicity stunt.

However, in the aftermath of the incident, some still possess different speculations about ‘Devotion’. As regretful as the incident was, we have to bear its full consequence. We hope for a second chance in the near future. A chance to prove that, both Red Candle and its partner simply wanted to create a great game and no one wished for such incident to occur.

Rest assured, Red Candle Games will continue its passion to creativity as a game company.

Thank you for your invaluable support.

Sincerely,
Red Candle Games

Due to technical issues that cause unexpected crashes and among other reasons, we are pulling <Devotion> off from steam store to have another complete QA check. At the same time we'd like to take this opportunity to ease the heightened pressure in our community resulted from our previous Art Material Incident, our team would also review our game material once again making sure no other unintended materials was inserted in. Hopefully this would help all audience to focus on the game itself again upon its return.

1. Red Candle Games herein confirm the following information spreading on the Internet is incorrect.
(1) The highly-estimated sales number of Devotion
(2) Extensive implication about the game content
(3) Photoshopped statement screenshot made by the forged official account

For the official information, Red Candle Games’ Facebook account and the Steam page are the only reliable sources. We kindly remind you not to be misled by other incorrect information.

(At the moment, Red Candle Games’ official Weibo account has been shut down. But we will keep contacting Weibo officials in hope to provide an official channel with correct information to all the player.)

2. The theme of Devotion is about how cult does harm to people, leading to the tragedy caused by pure parental love. For the earlier sensitive art material incident, the whole team of Red Candle Games bears the responsibility of this awfully unprofessional mistake. It is not Red Candle’s vision to secretly project extensive ideology, nor is it to attack any person in the real world. Even if the sensitive art element was wrongfully placed before, we kindly ask you not to over interpret other game material.

3. As a game company, Red Candle Games’ only goal is to provide an impressive and good playing experience to all. However, we failed our players’ anticipation and offended many others due to the said mistake. For that, we feel awfully sorry and devastated. Again, we would like to reaffirm that the severe art material mistake is made by Red Candle Games. It has nothing to do with any of our partners. Red Candle Games take full responsibility and bear all the condemns. We sincerely hope that this end with Red Candle, and that please do not take it out on all the innocent partners.

4. It is our genuine hope that everyone can remain calm and shift the focus back to the game’s core message, which can be obtained through playing experience of Devotion. After all, it is a mistake to insert the unrelatable material to the game content. Not only does it destroy how people experience the game, but also affect many more people. It is our regret to say that this is not Red Candle Games’ original aim for game development.

5. At the moment we are in the process of business mediation. We kindly ask for everyone to remain calm and give Red Candle some time to address the incident. This will be the greatest support for us. Thank you.

Vincent Yang, Coffee Yao, Henry Wang, Light Wang, Doy Chiang and Hans Chen
Co-founders, Red Candle Games

In the light of the art material incident today, on behalf of Red Candle Games, we apologize to our players. We have failed your trust and love towards Red Candle Games.

Earlier, in order to clarify the situation with you all in the first place, we released a short statement hastily. But clearly, we still owe you all a comprehensive explanation.

During the early development period, one of Red Candle's member placed the sensitive words into an art material. When the art material was made, each teammate was busy working on one's own tasks while chasing the deadline. None of the other colleagues were aware of this. It was until we received a private report made by a player on February 21 that we realized what was exactly written on that art material. Upon learning of this, we immediately replaced the art material within an hour.

The words written on the art material does not stand for Red Candle Games' stance, nor is it in any ways related to Devotion’s story and theme. However, even if this was caused by an individual behavior, as a whole, it is Red Candle Games' responsibility. For the players, streamers and media friends, we are deeply sorry that we hurt your feelings. After all, if it were not for your support, Red Candle Games wouldn't have gone so far, let along the release of Detention and Devotion. The last thing we want is to fail your trust. This is not what we visioned for, but unfortunately the damage has been made. For that, we take full responsibility. We deeply regret and are awfully sorry for the sensitive art material, and that when the incident first came out, we failed to put ourselves into your position.

Again, we apologize to our players, streamers and media friends for hurting your feelings. We would also like to take this opportunity to reaffirm that Devotion’s publisher did not know about the art material beforehand and were not involved in this incident at all. Currently our partnership has terminated. Red Candle Games will take full responsibility to compensate the relevant loss based on the contract.

Red Candle Games is created by a group of people who simply enjoy games. Since the establishment in 2015, we sincerely appreciate all of the love and feedbacks that we have received from all of you. But with the art material incident, we are sorry for our incapability in project management, and we have no excuse for making such unprofessional mistake. Currently Devotion has been taken down from Steam China, and for all the requested refunds, we are now in touch with Steam to ensure the refunds will be proceeded.

Vincent Yang, Coffee Yao, Henry Wang, Light Wang, Doy Chiang and Hans Chen
Co-founders, Red Candle Games

When making the prototype, the team often referred to the then known internet slang as placeholder. However, due to the version synchronizing problem, not all of the placeholders were deleted properly. This is purely an accident, and we have no intention for causing harm nor hatred. The said art material has been taken down and replaced at the evening of February 21. This incident indicates the fact that Red Candle Games’ project management has failed to function. As a game company, Red Candle Games has immense room for improvement. We are deeply sorry for the trouble it caused to everyone, and that we sincerely ask for the forgiveness of our players.

Red Candle Games take full responsibility on the art material incident.

Hello,

We apologies for the playing inconvenience. Our team has worked overnight to fix the bugs listed below. Meanwhile, we will continue look into other unresolved issues.

Fixed bugs for v1.0.3
- The black screen crash before the logo appears
- The crash after igniting the lighter
- The crash after putting the 3 fragments on the door

Please check if your version is up to date. If not, please update the version to v1.0.3.

There are two ways to check the version of the game:
1. Open the game, check the bottom right corner on the main menu (shown as below).



2. Open the Steam Library > Right click Devotion > Click Properties > Click Local Files > Browse Local Files > Enter Devotion_Data folder > Enter Config folder > Open config.json file > The version will be shown in the file



If your version is up to date yet still encounters these issues, please report to us along with your specs info at Bug Reporting Thread

Thank you.

Hello All,

The team is now tirelessly working to fix the confirmed bug on Win 7. Before the issue is solved, we've temporary removed Win 7 from the Supported System listing. We will announce further news once the bug is fixed. Thank you.