Stop laughing. It is all true! The gaming industry is filled with weird stories, but this one is the strangest one so far…
Apparently, Winnie the Pooh is not a bear Chinese people like. At first, you might ask yourself why from all the things you’d ban, Winnie the Pooh would be the one to make the list?
Well, looking deeper at the Chinese President Xi Jinping and the cuddly bear, it makes sense…
It all began in 2017 when the Chinese government banned comments on images of the cartoon bear that was photoshopped to be the Chinese President Xi Jinping with the Former US President Barack Obama. Believe it or not, in 2015, one of the photos with Winnie as the Chinese president became “the most censored picture of the year in China.”
Winnie-The-Pooh Illegal in China!
Because of the memes, now Winnie-The-Pooh is something you don’t want to comment or distribute online in China because it’s against the law!
So Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer is out, and it also has Winnie and his friends. How did the trailer get to China? Heavily edited and with no Winnie in the picture! The edits look like they were added outside of the control of Square-Enix.
According to Comicbook.com, they tried to contact Square Enix for a response, and they only got a statement from a representative, saying that “Unfortunately, Square Enix does not have a comment to share at this time.”
The game publisher did not comment on how the game will appear in China – with or without Winnie. Will they censor it to appease the government? We’ll see once the game is released. You can watch the trailer with the honey-eating bear on YouTube… that is if you’re not in China!
You’ll be able to play Kingdom Hearts III on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 next year, on 29 January.
Robert J. Smith is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including JoyStiq and Android Authority. In regards to academics, Robert earned a degree in business from Fordham University. Robert has passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.