The New York Times reports that a romance fraud game called ‘
Emotional Fraud Prevention Simulator ‘ is fueling Chinese men’s resentment towards women.
‘Who Killed Love?’ A Video Game Plays to Male Resentment in China. – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/business/china-video-games-women.html
Chinese FMV game about getting ‘revenge on gold diggers’ plunges the country into online gender tumult | PC Gamer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/chinese-fmv-game-about-getting-revenge-on-gold-diggers-plunges-the-country-into-online-gender-tumult/
‘Emotional Fraud Prevention Simulator’ is the most popular and controversial game in China as of July 2025. Since its release in June 2025, it temporarily ranked first in the sales rankings on the Chinese version of Steam. The catchphrase ‘Who killed love? It’s women who killed love for money’ has attracted attention on Chinese social media.
The plot of the Emotional Fraud Prevention Simulator is that a male delivery man who falls in love with a female streamer is exploited by her romantic feelings, has his money stolen, and is dumped after spending all his savings. After this experience, he vows to take revenge on women who prey on men like female streamers. Players become ‘romance fraud hunters’ and must punish romance scammers while protecting their wallets and hearts.
‘It’s a lament for our generation of Chinese men,’ was the most-liked comment on the game’s community message board, according to The New York Times. ‘The game has sparked enthusiasm among young men frustrated with women and fierce criticism from others. Some have accused it of being misogynistic, while others have complained that the game seems to pander to government concerns in a country where marriage and birth rates are plummeting,’ the Times reported.
According to The New York Times, China has been experiencing a sense of stagnation in recent years due to a combination of rising housing costs, a worsening job market, and declining social mobility. The report points out that this economic downturn, combined with anxiety about romance, marriage, and masculinity, is creating a sense of psychological despair among young Chinese men. In fact, the economic downturn has made many young people reluctant to get married and have children, and the number of couples who filed for marriage in 2024 was 6.1 million, a 21% decrease from the previous year.
It has been pointed out on the Chinese Internet that men have become ‘walking wallets’ in romance, and the sense of victimization is growing among men. The Emotion Fraud Prevention Simulator is gaining enthusiastic support among Chinese men who feel this way.
‘Economic challenges are real and understandably anxiety-inducing,’ said a Beijing-based video producer interviewed by The New York Times. ‘The Emotional Fraud Prevention Simulator captures very well the intense gender conflict that is so prevalent in Chinese society today.’ The video producer said, ‘The Emotional Fraud Prevention Simulator is especially popular with
incels (single men who have not had a relationship or sexual relationship with the opposite sex for a long time and have given up on marriage).’
‘I don’t like women, but I want to fall in love, just a little bit,’ a 23-year-old unemployed man living with his parents in Chongqing told The New York Times. He said the emotional fraud prevention simulator teaches men who have no experience with love, like himself, how to prepare for love. The man explained that his opinions on women and feminism were shaped by social media.
The game begins with a scene in which a chubby, lovelorn man attempts suicide by jumping off a building. This is understood in the Chinese gaming community to be an allusion to an incident that occurred in 2024, in which a man who had been dumped by his girlfriend jumped into the Yangtze River to commit suicide.
In this case, the police have determined that ‘the woman had done nothing wrong and it was a normal relationship,’ but some men have said that ‘perhaps the woman was using the man for financial gain,’ and there are even calls for them to be held legally responsible.
Others talk about a case that occurred in 2023 in Shanxi Province, China, where a man was sentenced to three years in prison for raping his fiancée. In this trial, the man’s lawyer argued that the engagement was an implicit agreement because he had paid about $14,000 (about 2.1 million yen) as
a bride price , but the court ruled against the defendant. Male gamers who support the Emotional Fraud Prevention Simulator are said to be angry about the ruling, saying it is ‘proof that feminists have taken control of the judicial system.’
Bride price is a Chinese custom in which the groom’s family gives money to the bride’s family before the wedding. In parts of China where there are many more men than women, the bride price can rise to hundreds of millions of yen. Some men call it ‘legalized robbery.’
‘In many cases, the money never goes to the bride. It goes to the bride’s parents, who often use it to pay for their brothers’ weddings,’ said Li Shipan, a visiting scholar at Stanford University and a women’s rights activist. She said China’s failure to address widespread inequality and provide an adequate social safety net for women has contributed to the gender conflict of recent years.
In addition, a video summarizing all the endings of Emotional Fraud Prevention Simulator is available on YouTube.
Revenge on Gold Diggers — All Endings (Engsub) – YouTube
Emotional Fraud Prevention Simulator is sold on Steam for 1000 yen. However, at the time of writing, Japanese is not supported.
Steam：Emotional rebuttal model
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350200/_/
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