Photo: VCG

An advertisement of German game developer Bytro's game "Conflict of Nations: WW3" sparked controversy online as it labeled the Chinese mainland as "West Taiwan," drawing a huge backlash from netizens with some saying that "it is such an ironic error" that could make the firm lose the Chinese market. 

The game is set in 'World War III' involving military operations, politics, and diplomacy. Even though local media in the island of Taiwan pointed out that the map may have been mislabeled for that advertisement, many netizens said it is hard to believe that a military strategy game could make such an ironic mistake accidentally.

A screenshot of the advertisement of the game shows the island of Taiwan is incorrectly labeled as an independent country. But what is even more bizarre is that the Chinese mainland is labeled as "West Taiwan," which aroused the anger of the public. However, there are more errors in this map, including labeling Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as "Uyghur" and including Mongolia into parts of China.

The Global Times reached out to the German game developer for comments on the controversial advertisement but it failed to respond as of press time. 

"The German game developer may not need the Chinese market anymore," a netizen said on Twitter on Thursday, as for most netizens, such a mistake would trigger a boycott campaign of the game in the country. 

"Such ads look like reckless move of trying to attract the public attention," a netizen on Sina Weibo said. And another netizen suggested that the ads should label the US as "East Taiwan." 

According to media from the Taiwan island, the term "West Taiwan" was used by foreign netizens to mock and irritate the Chinese government and its people, and even spawned related products like the T-shirt which notorious Kyle Bass used to wear. 

However, the vast majority of netizens from the mainland dismiss such tactics and even find these antics from media and Western companies ridiculous. Just as one Weibo user said: "Although we feel tired seeing these people get hyper themselves all the time, it only confirms the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to China."