Cyberpunk 2077 devs apologise for anti-Russian content in Phantom Liberty
CD Projekt Red has spoken about seemingly unwanted anti-Russian content appearing in the Ukrainian edition of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC.
26th Sep 2023 17:00
Images via CD Projekt Red
Cyberpunk 2077 devs apologise for anti-Russian content in Phantom Liberty
CD Projekt Red has spoken about seemingly unwanted anti-Russian content appearing in the Ukrainian edition of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC.
26th Sep 2023 17:00
Images via CD Projekt Red
There's been a lot of change for Cyberpunk 2077 the past month, and it's safe to say that the game is almost unrecognisable when compared to the chaos simulator it was at launch.
A huge new update has ironed out almost all of the kinks that the sci-fi shooter once had, and now that the Phantom Liberty DLC pack is giving players plenty more to do with an incredibly accomplished story, there’s still clearly much more life in the RPG title.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a different beast from what it was in 2020, although it looks like there's a little more tidying up to do in the Ukrainian version of the game.
Anti-Russian language has been pulled from Cyberpunk 2077
A new localisation of Cyberpunk 2077 for Ukraine has come to the title as a part of the huge new 2.0 update, but it packs some dialogue that supposedly wasn't written by CD Projekt Red.
Even though the development company has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine in its efforts to fend off the warmongering of Putin's Russia, it seems that new additions to the game that point fingers at Russia were not of their own design.
As noted by Zone of Games (via Rock, Paper, Shotgun), new pieces of dialogue reference "Rusnia." Alongside this derogatory term for Russian people devised by Ukrainians, there's a reference to Russia's demand that Ukraine turn over Snake Island.
There is also graffiti found in the game that features the Ukrainian coat of arms, and symbols representing the Crimean Tatars.
CD Projekt Red apologises for anti-Russian language in Cyberpunk 2.0
"The Ukrainian localization of Cyberpunk 2077 contains several remarks that could offend some Russian players," reads a new statement issued by CD Projekt Red (via Telegram). "These remarks were not written by CD Projekt Red employees and do not represent our views.
"We are working to fix them and replace them in the next update. We apologize for this situation and are taking steps to ensure it does not happen again." It's interesting to see how this will turn out, as if this comes down to SBT Localization - the team behind the new Ukrainian version of the game.
It likely won't end well for SBT Localization, especially after its work on Baldur's Gate 3 and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. At the very least, it definitely isn't a good look for the team to take such liberties in the midst of this political minefield.
About The Author
Joseph Kime
Joseph Kime is the Senior Trending News Journalist for GGRecon from Devon, UK. Before graduating from MarJon University with a degree in Journalism, he started writing music reviews for his own website before writing for the likes of FANDOM, Zavvi and The Digital Fix. He is host of the Big Screen Book Club podcast, and author of Building A Universe, a book that chronicles the history of superhero movies. His favourite games include DOOM (2016), Celeste and Pokemon Emerald.
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