Overwatch apologizes to Australia for inappropriate language on its new Junkertown map

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Blizzard proved today that it takes cultural concerns from the global Overwatch community very seriously, even when said concerns are about what you call food that you pick up from a restaurant. After all, everybody screws up and gets called on it from time to time; what really matters is how you patch out the mistake.

Reddit user RagingWinston was checking out the new Junkertown map (which takes place in a post-robot-apocalypse part of Australia) when something caught their eye; a particular neon sign with an un-Australian choice of words. Here's the signage in question, in pink and on the left.

"This is pretty big nit-picking but oh well," RagingWinston began. "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. This is obviously no big deal but it's gonna piss off some of us Aussies. I'm not too sure if I'm the only one that has noticed this so far. Maybe in post-apocalyptic Australia we have resorted to American terms."

Then, a few hours (and surely several tense all-hands meetings at Blizzard headquarters with lawyers and damage-control firms present) later, game director Jeff Kaplan responded to the Reddit thread.

"I'd like to offer a direct apology to the entire country of Australia," Kaplan said. "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 [Australian streamer] Muselk that our coffees are too large as well. We're learning... trying, over here…"

It's a good thing Kaplan nipped this international incident in the bud before Australia had to bring out the giant boot.

While you're waiting for Junkertown to go live (and to fix its darn take-out sign), check out these custom Overwatch game modes and learn how to be a better Mystery Heroes player.

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.