'Overwatch' Gameplay News: Jeff Kaplan Says Sorry to Aussie Players; Devs Fix 'Cultural Insensitive' Map Content
"Overwatch" game director Jeff Kaplan recently apologized to Australian gamers following what they deemed was content that held some "cultural insensitivity." To make amends, developers immediately issued a patch to make the necessary corrections.
Recently, Blizzard Entertainment announced a game update that would be adding the Junkertown map set in Australia. "Overwatch" is known for its close-to-reality game locations based on real-life cities and countries around the world.
However, several days ago, a player and Reddit user going by the name RagingWinston pointed out one detail that did not seem very accurate to the Australian culture.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
In the video teaser for the upcoming escort map, "Overwatch" players were given a quick run around the streets of Junkertown. RagingWinston was quick to notice that a closed restaurant on the map had a neon light sign that said "take out" as shown in the photo above.
"On the new map, Junkertown, after the first checkpoint there is a sign on the street corner which advertises 'take-out', a term which I guess is more commonly used in America. In Australia, we actually call it 'take-away' rather than the other," RagingWinston explained.
While the Redditor said it might be "no big deal" for some, he thought it might draw the ire of some Australian players of "Overwatch." Raging Winston added jokingly: "Maybe in post-apocalyptic Australia we have resorted to American terms."
Another Reddit user who saw the thread posted RagingWinston's comments in an "Overwatch" forum. Shortly after, Kaplan replied to the Reddit thread and said: "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."
He added: "I've also been told by Muselk that our coffees are too large as well. We're learning... trying, over here..."
To Blizzard Entertainment's credit, the animation fix was quickly done and Kaplan even shared a preview of it on a separate comment on RagingWinston's Reddit post. The restaurant sign now said, "Take away."
However, as of this writing, the original trailer bearing the American term "take out" is still up on YouTube. And with almost 1.9 million views, it is unlikely for Blizzard to take it down.
On the other hand, Kaplan promised that the final release of the Junkertown map will carry the proper "take away" sign.
