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Jess Ma

A mobile game application banned for advocating Hong Kong and Taiwan independence can no longer be found on Apple’s App Store, according to checks by the Post, following its earlier removal from the Google Play Store.
Reversed Front: Bonfire, a war-themed game developed by ESC Taiwan and launched in April, did not appear in search results on Wednesday, despite being available for download on the store the previous day.
On Tuesday evening, Hong Kong police warned residents against downloading the application, saying those who did would risk breaking the city’s national security laws for possessing a seditious publication.
Authorities invoked a section of the implementation rules under the Beijing-imposed national security law, allowing police to order relevant electronic platforms to remove access to the game.
According to a check by the Post on Tuesday, the Google Play Store had suspended access to download the mobile game.
The game’s social media page said earlier this month that it was previously taken down from the Google Play Store for not prohibiting hateful language.
But players could still download an Android version of the game from its website, the social media page said.
The developer behind the game said the app had topped the download chart on Apple’s App Store on Tuesday evening before it became unavailable in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon.
The developer called on people to change their location settings for Apple to other places if they wanted to buy the game.

The game’s makers have already made multiple social media posts in response to police’s ban announcement.
In one post from Tuesday evening, they wrote: “Thank you, chancellor, for bestowing us with arrows.”
The line references an ancient Chinese anecdote where a strategist lured an enemy to attack his strawmen-filled ships with arrows so he could collect them for his own soldiers to use.
The developer also posted a screenshot showing a surging number of searches using the phrase “reversed front” and a screengrab of a news outlet’s report on the ban.
According to Google Trends, the game was the top search item in Hong Kong as of Wednesday afternoon.
The game’s Facebook page currently has 27,000 followers and 22,000 likes.
A source told the Post that no arrests had been made in connection with the mobile game so far.
The force also warned that anyone who provided money or financial help to the game’s developer, including making in-app purchases, with the intent to fund acts of secession or subversion of state power, could also risk offending the national security law.
It also said that any person or organisation that knowingly published the application, including sharing or recommending it online, would also risk contravening offences of inciting secession and subversion under the national security law, as well as seditious intention offences under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.
The Post has reached out to Apple and Google for comment.

Senior Counsel Ronny Tong Ka-wah, a member of the Executive Council, the government’s key decision-making body, told the Post that it would be difficult for city authorities to enforce the law in terms of downloads from the game’s website if the page was based outside Hong Kong.
“However, this doesn’t mean in the future, when the opportunity arises, that authorities can’t prosecute the company and individuals involved,” he said.
The top government adviser added that authorities could block the website in the city and prosecute people who had downloaded the game.
Asked why authorities had not lodged an injunction with the court when seeking a ban on the game, as they had done with protest song “Glory to Hong Kong” in 2023, Tong said the government’s choice of law enforcement tools depended on the circumstances.
“For the implementation rules of the national security law, authorities would require online platforms’ cooperation. If they refuse to cooperate, then the government might need an injunction,” he said.
In June 2023, the Department of Justice applied for an injunction to stop anyone harbouring criminal intent from “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing [the protest song] in any way”.
A judge banned the application in July of that same year, but the ruling was overturned at the Court of Appeal one year later.
The three judges at the appellate court concluded that the composer of the song had indeed intended it to be a “weapon”.


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Hong Kong national security law (NSL)

Mobile game advocating Hong Kong independence disappears from Apple’s App Store

“Reversed Front: Bonfire” was developed by developed by ESC Taiwan and launched in April. Photo: Handout

Police have warned against downloading mobile game application “Reversed Front: Bonfire”, which advocates Hong Kong and Taiwan independence. Photo: Handout

The game was previously available on the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. Photo: Handout

Hongkongers warned not to download mobile game ‘promoting secessionist agenda’

‘Reversed Front: Bonfire’ was developed by a Taiwanese company, ESC. Photo: reversedfront.tw

The game is no longer available on Google’s Play Store. Photo: reversedfront.tw

Books about June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown grow scarce in Hong Kong

A large banner promoting the national security law in Quarry Bay. Photo: Sun Yeung

Hunter Bookstore owner Leticia Wong says “no one dares to test where the red line exists”. Photo: Natalie Wong

Victoria Park previously hosted an annual June 4 vigil. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Reversed Front: Bonfire was no longer available on Google Play Store on Tuesday, the same day police warned against downloading game


Reversed Front: Bonfire was no longer available on Google Play Store on Tuesday, the same day police warned against downloading game.


Crime in Hong Kong

China

Taiwan