“Kingdom Hearts 3” will be one of the most highly-anticipated video games that many gamers around the world have been looking forward to.
The most recent trailer of the game shows the main character Sora meeting the honey-loving bear Winnie the Pooh and his friends from the Hundred Acre Woods. This has gotten many fans excited for the game release – well except for China.
According to several Chinese gamers, the recent trailer of “Kingdom Hearts 3” seems a bit odd in China as Winnie the Pooh has been completely censored out from both images and videos.
Based on the screenshots shared by some gamers on Twitter, Pooh appears as a white blob of light which seems to be a weird and funny way to censor out the character, and what’s weirder is that he’s not even completely censored as you can still see his feet.
Images of Winnie the Pooh from Kingdom Hearts 3 are being censored in China due to the country's history of censorship issues with the yellow bear pic.twitter.com/EO0sj5Ao3H
— Censored Gaming (@CensoredGaming_) November 20, 2018
This interesting way of censorship has becomes a huge joke on social media as the Chinese trailer looks absolutely ridiculous and that beautiful moment between Pooh and Sora has turned awkward.
If you have no idea why Pooh is censored out in the Chinese version of “Kingdom Hearts 3” – well, it all started back in 2013 when an image of Xi walking with President Barack Obama was posted alongside a picture of Pooh walking next to Tigger.
https://twitter.com/Nitomatta/status/1064959998105546752
The comparison soon becomes a well-known meme in China and so, the loveable bear has now become the symbol of the Chinese resistance against the ruling Communist Party, which is why the character has been heavily blurred in China. Even “Christopher Robin” was banned from being released in China this year.
Reports out of China have confirmed that in the Chinese version of “Kingdom Hearts 3”, Winnie the Pooh will be censored. Rather than removing the bear from the game altogether, the game has instead been edited slightly to blur his appearance, but from screenshots shown on social media, the blur editing seems to be anything but “slight”.
“Kingdom Hearts 3” is set to release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 29th January 2019.
