CD Projekt Red has apologized after it was spotted that the newly released Ukrainian localization of Cyberpunk 2077 contained dialog and images that could offend Russian players.
Rock Paper Shotgun reports that amongst the dialog in question, an anti-Russian derogatory term is used, and one piece of in-game graffiti appears to reference Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014. The graffiti reportedly shows the Crimean peninsula, with a symbol representing the Crimean Tatars and the Ukrainian coat of arms over the top of it.
Now though, as PC Gamer reports, CD Projekt Red has released an official statement acknowledging the dialog, and claims that the remarks weren’t written by the studio’s employees.
“The Ukrainian localization of Cyberpunk 2077 contains several remarks that could offend some Russian players,” a statement posted to VK and Telegram reads (translated from Russian by Google). “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.”
Last year, CD Projekt Red donated one million Polish Zloty (which today converts to $230,053.55 or £188,613.60) to the Polish Humanitarian Action, to help refugees and victims of the conflict in Ukraine. At the time, the studio stated that it had offered help to all of its Ukrainian employees and their families, and had provided legal assistance, psychological support, and organized for those affected to stay in Poland, if they wished.
Cyberpunk 2077’s DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, released today (September 26) on current-gen consoles and PC. Players are being warned, however, that it’s possible to lock themselves out of the expansion’s main story if they’re not careful with a certain dialog choice.
If you’re looking for more games to play, be sure to check out our recommendations for the best open-world games on PC, as well as the best PS5 games.