When Kingdom Hearts 3 launched in January of 2019, it finally gave fans the chance to continue the story of Sora and the assortment of Disney characters by his side. The game introduced a number of Disney and Pixar properties that hadn't been touched on in previous installments, including Big Hero 6, Toy Story, and Frozen. The series as a whole is largely family friendly, combining the talents of Square Enix and Disney into one franchise, but there was one aspect of Kingdom Hearts 3 that didn't sit well with the government of one particular country.
In the Chinese release of Kingdom Hearts 3, Winnie the Pooh was completely censored. In every on-screen appearance that the honey-loving bear made, he was covered by a massive white blot that blocked everything but the bear's feet. After the trailer for the Hundred Acre Wood section of the game was revealed, screenshots of this censorship were made public through social media. Instead of just removing the character from the game, which likely would have delayed the Kingdom Hearts 3 more than it already was, it looked as if he was just painted over like a stain on a wall. This confused a lot of people in the west when the change was discovered, but Chinese censorship isn't new.
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Winnie the Pooh's censorship in China was a decision made by the government to prevent what it viewed as potential instability within the country. Kingdom Hearts 3 was not the first time the lovable bear had been banned from Chinese media, as the character has been a source of contention for quite some time now. The issues around the character began when Chinese citizens began likening Winnie the Pooh to Chinese president Xi Jinping. The comparisons began as a meme all the way back in 2013, when the Chinese president was pictured in a meeting with then-U.S. president Barack Obama.
While some people saw these comparisons as a point of mild amusement, many people in China that object to the rule of president Xi Jinping took the meme and expanded it immensely. Soon there were all kinds of images online comparing Winnie the Pooh with the Chinese president, some of them even photoshopping the president's face directly on to the character. It became one of many forms of protest for some citizens, but it didn't go ignored for long. The Chinese government took exception to these memes and outright banned any depictions of Winnie the Pooh in Chinese media.
Chinese law sees this type of censorship across all mediums, including film and television. The 2018 film Christopher Robin that starred Ewan McGregor and Hayley Atwell was completely banned in the country because of the stuffed-animal depiction of Winnie the Pooh, and any posts on social media that contain the character have been swiftly removed since this form of opposition began.
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The video game industry has been subject to China's various bans on different forms of entertainment for years. It wasn't until the last console generation that the country allowed foreign video game consoles to be sold in stores, and even when it became legal, it was with some major caveats. Many aspects of the consoles sold in China are different from the ones sold in other parts of the world. The consoles are usually region-locked, meaning that only games approved by the Chinese government can be bought through online stores and played on Chinese servers.
Because of the amount of time that it takes to place these censors on consoles, this also means that China gets access to new hardware much later than most of the world does. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that a heavily censored version of the Switch released in the country, and Sony just recently announced that the PS5 would be coming to China sometime this year.
Games other than Kingdom Hearts 3 have also been subject to heavy censorship in the country so that they can access the Chinese market. Back in 2018, Rainbow Six Siege attempted to introduce changes to some of the game's visuals so that it could sell in China. Instead of creating a version of the game specifically for China, however, the developer decided to change the visuals in the game for everyone, and the controversy surrounding the decision was staggering. The censorship was changed soon after, and no additional forms of censorship for the game have been announced ever since.
Industry titan Fortnite has also been subject to China's rules on censorship, in some cases changing how the game is even played. Instead of games always having one definitive winner, as long as a player survives for twenty minutes, they are crowned victorious along with anyone else that has survived for that long. The Chinese version of Fortnite also has changes for many of the game's skins, especially those that depict skeletons in one way or another as they go against China's censors. These are likely a small price to pay for the game's developer, however, as some mild changes to the game means that one of the largest video game markets in the world gets to access it.
For Kingdom Hearts 3, Winnie the Pooh's censorship was likely a small sacrifice to make so that the game could reach a wider audience. The immensity of the Chinese market cannot be overstated, and when there's money to be made, some companies are willing to make the necessary adjustments. With speculation on a Kingdom Hearts 4 ramping up, it'll be interesting to see how the franchise juggles this moving forward.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is available now for PS4 and Xbox One, and will be available on PC starting March 30th.