"Animal Crossing: New Horizons" is a chill little social simulation game where players maintain their own island, farm, catch fish and bugs, and meet friends in-game.
Some players in Hong Kong however, have been using the game for some rather creative purposes, which may have led to the banning of the game in China.
Quietly pulled off online stores
The game, which was released on Mar. 20, appears to have been quietly pulled from all online stores in China.
This includes China's largest e-commerce site, Taobao, without any official government announcement.
Searches for the game on Taobao did not yield any results, reported Time.
Although Animal Crossing has not been officially released in mainland China, Chinese gamers purchase the games from overseas via platforms like Taobao.
However, Caixin reported that hard copies of the game may still be available in mainland China.
Possible political reason
This sudden move could be due to the game being used by protesters to spread Hong Kong pro-democracy messages and slogans.
Prominent Hong Kong activist and politician Joshua Wong shared photos of the game to Twitter.
In the game, player's characters can be seen gathering around a black and white portrait of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, along with a lit candle and what appears to be a gravestone.
Some of the player characters appear to be wearing helmets and gas masks, reminiscent of Hong Kong protesters.
Photo from @joshuawongcf / Twitter
What appears to be portraits of China's President Xi Jinping and World Health Organisation's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus can be seen as well.
Photo from @joshuawongcf / Twitter
Pro-democracy messages
Wong also posted a photo of protest slogans like "Free Hong Kong - Revolution Now".
Wong said this was because public demonstrations are not allowed in Hong Kong, leaving protestors to take their cause to the game.
Following the ban, angry gamers have been blaming Wong as well.
But Wong feels they are placing the blame at the wrong door.
Top photo from @joshuawongcf / Twitter