Blizzard “upset” (not really, but bear with me) many Australians recently with a “culturally insensitive” sign in the new Junkertown map on Overwatch. That sign has now been fixed, and we are all free to get on with our lives.
As first detailed in this Kotaku Australia story, the map—which is set in a desolate post-apocalyptic Australian outback—originally launched with a sign hanging over a store that said “Take-out”. You know, for food that you take out of the restaurant. This is an American term.
In Australia, we use the word “Take-away”. You know, for food that you take away from the restaurant.
It’s an oversight that Blizzard are now well and truly aware of, after Australians hit up Overwatch frontman Jeff Kaplan with so many complaints that he was forced into a very sincere apology on Reddit.
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...
He wasn’t kidding. As of this week, the sign has now been altered.
Please world, if you have not picked up on this by now, know that this is not real outrage. Nobody gives a genuine shit, hence the tone of Kaplan’s “apology”. But it’s still secretly a pet peeve for many Australians, whose vernacular—and my colleagues will attest to this—skews a lot closer to British English than American.
So while this has all been “haha very funny”, it’s still a win for anyone needing that little bit of extra immersion and linguistic accuracy in a video game about a talking gorilla and meditating robot.