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Onmyoji server shut down in Vietnam for violating local sovereignty laws

Update to in-game map shows disputed South China Sea territory as Chinese against Vietnamese law

NetEase-developed RPG Onmyoji appears to have been shut down in Vietnam, following an update to the game that introduced a map change violating Vietnamese sovereignty laws.

Vietnamese site Lag.vn shared the official announcement, which states that Vietnamese partner Bing Minh Software Services will stop operating the game in Vietnam as of October 16.

"The reason is because in the latest update of the game provided by partners, we found a content that violates Vietnam's territorial sovereignty," the statement reads, via Google Translate. "We realize that this is a serious violation and immediately made the decision to stop providing games to local gamers."

The shutdown of the game has been confirmed by users on the Onmyoji subreddit as well as by Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad on Twitter, who shared further details on the specific violation.

Per Ahmad, a recent patch to Onmyoji updated an in-game map to add the "Nine-Dash Line." The line has historically been used by China to demarcate a claim on territory in the South China Sea, a claim determined by the United Nations in 2016 to have "no legal basis." The claim has been disputed by numerous countries over the years, including nearby countries such as the Phillippines as well as those with interests in the region, such as the United States.

Vietnam specifically has cracked down on the depiction of this line recently, including pulling the film Abominable earlier this month for a scene in which a map with the nine-dash line is shown.

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Rebekah Valentine

Senior Staff Writer

Rebekah arrived at GamesIndustry in 2018 after four years of freelance writing and editing across multiple gaming and tech sites. When she's not recreating video game foods in a real life kitchen, she's happily imagining herself as an Animal Crossing character.