“Want to know if a man loves you? See how much he spends.” “Married for 41 days, she demanded 10 million yuan — he jumped to his death.” “Top gold-digging influencer reportedly earns 150 million yuan a year.”

Misogynistic pronouncements — or calls for justice against relationship scams?

Apparently, they could be either, depending on where you stand on “gold diggers.” These fabricated news headlines, based on real events, feature at the beginning of a new game that has rocketed to the top of China’s games charts since its release on June 19.

Titled Revenge on Gold Diggers and launched on the online gaming platform Steam, the China-developed game has sparked fierce debate over gender representation. 

The premise is simple: players guide a male protagonist who was previously deceived by a “gold digger” and seeks revenge.

And the quotes above set the tone, defining “gold diggers” as “women who drain men of their money through emotional manipulation” — what is commonly called catfishing in the West, but is better known as “pig butchering” in China.

Critics were quick to accuse the game of stigmatizing women. Supporters, however, call it “relationship education for men,” according to domestic media.

The game’s popularity was almost instant, climbing to the No. 4 spot on Steam’s global bestsellers chart on the day of its launch. However, controversy soon followed, with the game’s official account, as well as the personal account of the game’s main creator, Hong Kong film director Mark Wu, being banned on the video platform Bilibili hours after release.

Then, the game was renamed Emotional Fraud Simulator, with developers claiming no content had been removed. This change didn’t dint sales, however, and it hit the top of Steam’s download rankings in China, surpassing even Black Myth: Wukong.

Revenge on Gold Diggers, released by publisher Qianfang Studio, marks the first foray into interactive gaming by Wu. As a full-motion video game, the action unfolds in nearly eight hours of pre-recorded video starring six main characters, with the player’s choices culminating in 38 possible endings.

The game is believed to have been made in the wake of the suicide of gaming influencer Pangmao, or “Fat Cat.” The incident sparked significant online debate about “gold diggers” upon his death in April 2024.

Netizens accused Pangmao’s ex-girlfriend of financially exploiting him and driving him to his death, widely attacking her on Chinese social media. Local police later dismissed the allegations, stating that Pangmao’s family had orchestrated the doxxing campaign.

Despite this, Revenge on Gold Diggers presents Pangmao as a textbook “pig butchering” victim. The male protagonist, whose screen name “Benmao” appears to be a twist on “Pangmao,” seeks revenge on a “gold digger syndicate” after being betrayed.

Even more telling was that some users noticed that the initial characters of the game’s six chapters spell out a hidden message: “May the world never see another Pangmao.”

Writing on Steam, the creative team said that they priced the game at 33 yuan ($4.60), below the market average, so that “every additional player might be one less potential victim of fraud.”

However, a news outlet in the central Hubei province commented on June 20: “Genuine anti-fraud education should focus on identifying fake identities and scripted manipulation, not on labeling an entire gender as ‘perpetrators.’”

“Both men and women alike have committed emotional scams. There are countless examples. But this game deliberately ties fraud to women,” it added.

After the game was renamed, another news outlet in Beijing took a different stance.

The article, published June 23, praised it for “creatively strengthening young people’s awareness of safety in romantic relationships,” and cited the game’s user feedback — over 23,000 reviews on Steam, with a 96% positive rating — to justify its impact.

The two opposing commentaries each referenced policy in support of or against the game, with the earlier piece pointing out that the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has emphasized cracking down on content that stigmatizes specific gender groups, and called for stricter game review mechanisms.

In contrast, the latter article argued that the game aligned with the CAC’s campaign to regulate online dating and relationship scams. Citing data from the National Anti-Fraud Center, it noted that in 2023 such scams in China amounted to over 2 billion yuan ($275 million).

“Faced with increasingly sophisticated scams, traditional awareness campaigns struggle to keep up due to their limited reach and weak deterrent effect,” the latter article stated.

“Through interactive storytelling, the game unpacks real-life traps like emotional fraud, manipulative relationships, and financial coercion, turning gameplay into a vivid and impactful anti-fraud lesson.”

Controversies over gender representation in Chinese pop culture are nothing new. Black Myth: Wukong, for example, faced criticism for its creative team’s misogynistic social media posts leading up to and after the release of the game, as well as for its lack of female characters. Nevertheless, the game went on to become a global sensation, claiming the second-highest peak concurrent player count — over 2.2 million simultaneous users — of all time.

Editor: Tom Arnstein.

(Header image: A promotional poster for Revenge on Gold Diggers. From Weibo)