Blizzard aren’t safe from the social faux-pas of international politics. Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan has had to offer a “direct apology to the entire country of Australia” because of a definitely offensive sign in the new Junkertown map. This came from Reddit, where someone made a complaint. His full response is as follows.
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“I’d like to offer a direct apology to the entire country of Australia. Please forgive our cultural insensitivity. We will fix this in an upcoming patch (the sign travesty will most likely go live for some period before being fixed).
“I’ve also been told by Muselk that our coffees are too large as well. We’re learning… trying, over here…”
What did Blizzard do? One of the signs in Junkertown says “Take-out,” an American phrase, rather than “Take-away,” the Australian equivalent. Told you it was offensive. You can see the original post and Kaplan’s response on Reddit here.
Ok, it’s all a bit of a joke, nobody’s really annoyed, but the map will be changed to reflect this. If you want a thinkpiece: it’s an example of how localisation is really hard, whether you’re porting and translating a game or using a setting you’re not intimately familiar with.