CD Projekt Red apologises for potentially "offensive to Russian gamers" Ukrainian localisation of Cyberpunk 2077
"These lines have not been written by CD Projekt Red staff and do not represent our views."
CD Projekt Red has apologised for the Ukrainian localisation of Cyberpunk 2077 due to language which could be "considered offensive by Russian gamers" which was added in the 2.0 update last week and said it is working to add the "correct lines" in the next patch.
Website Zone of Games discovered differences between the English and Ukrainian scripts with altered dialogue. Since publishing its initial report, other differences within the versions of the game have surfaced.
As reported by our mates at Rock Paper Shotgun, the changes include swapping the word "asshole" to "rusnia", a Ukrainian derogatory word for Russians. The localisation also has allusions to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, such as a reference to "Russian warship, go fuck yourself", the response of a Ukrainian border guard to a Russian warship in a widely circulated encounter near Snake Island.
In a statement posted to its Russian social media yesterday, CD Projekt Red apologised for the Ukrainian localisation of Cyberpunk 2077 and pledged to change the offending differences.
"The release version of Ukrainian localisation of Cyberpunk 2077 features elements of dialogues that can be considered offensive by Russian gamers," the studio wrote. "These lines have not been written by CD Projekt Red staff and do not represent our views. We are working to produce correct lines and substitute them in the next update. We apologise for the situation and have made steps to avoid situations like that in the future."
Marila Strilchuk, localisation project manager at CDPR, issued a statement on Twitter (English translation via IGN). "I’d like to clarify regarding the corrections to the Ukrainian localization. They refer to the lines where the translation lost its original meaning, including certain references to the Russian-Ukrainian war. Our support to Ukraine remains unchanged, but we prefer to show it through positive actions."
CDPR has previously shown support towards war efforts in Ukraine. In March 2022, the company pulled all of its games from sale in Russia and Belarus, making it the first major publisher to do so. It also made a donation of 1m złoty (around £181k at the time) donation to Polish humanitarian organisation PAH.