Taipei, Mar 16 (IANS): Taiwanese horror game Devotion, pulled from mainland China after subtle references mocking Chinese President Xi Jinping, including comparing him to Winnie the Pooh, is now back on sale.

Game developer Red Candle Games has put its games up for sale on its own online store. Devotion and the studio's first game Detention are available to buy now without DRM, The Verge reported.

Devotion was pulled from Steam shortly after its launch in February 2019.

The game was critically lauded for its atmosphere and originality, but drew controversy and negative user reviews after users noticed an in-game poster that read, roughly, "Xi Jinping Winnie-the-Pooh moron."

Xi is commonly compared to Winnie the Pooh in online memes, which often arouse the ire of China's online censors, the report said.

At the time, Red Candle Games said it was removing Devotion for technical and QA-related reasons, and would also "review our game material once again making sure no other unintended materials was inserted in."

The game never returned to Steam, and Red Candle Games later apologised for its "severe art material mistake."

Devotion attracted new controversy in December 2020 when CD Projekt Red's storefront GOG backed out from an agreement to sell the game hours after its announcement.