TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — On the heels of China's ban on the video game "Animal Crossing" in April, the country is now said to have suspended PlayStation Network after a Chinese gamer complained that there is still a way to access uncensored games.
PlayStation China announced on Weibo on Sunday (May 10) that the service has been temporarily halted starting May 10 at 7 a.m. due to a "system security upgrade" and apologized for any inconvenience. The post did not say when the store would be back online.
Players were at a loss over the abrupt suspension of the service given that there have been no major updates to the store or politically sensitive games sold there recently, and some Chinese gamers allegedly sought to find out why.
A Chinese gamer identified as "Senli Yingsi" 森里螢四 was found to have shown off screengrabs of reports the player made to the authorities that claimed PlayStation was allowing Chinese players access to censored games banned on the mainland but sold in Hong Kong.
The screengrabs on his Weibo posts show the gamer had complained to the government multiple times that the games could be purchased simply by changing the player's store region. The player claimed that the uncensored games contain elements of violence, sexuality, blood, incest, and drugs and could harm Chinese teens' physical and mental health.
The gamer seems to have disabled his Weibo account and cannot be found at the time of publication. Media reports suggest that the gamer might have shut down his account after angry messages and even death threats were left on his page.
