Ubisoft has apologized for the inclusion of street art in The Division 2 which contained a homophobic slur. The artwork was spotted by a player documenting odd and misspelled graffiti within the game. The image has since been removed from the game.
As reported by Eurogamer, the artwork in question features an exaggerated portrait of a police officer chowing down on a donut. Their badge bears the designation “FA6607,” a l33tspeak take on the word faggot. Whether the image was meant to lambast police or not, the use of a slur historically used to disenfranchise and mock queer folks raised eyebrows.
In an email to Kotaku, Ubisoft offered a statement similar to that which was provided to Eurogamer.
“It’s been brought to our attention that a piece of street art in Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 contained offensive content,” the a representative said. “We removed the image from the game via a patch on Thursday, April 11. We apologize that this image slipped through our content review processes, and we are currently reviewing them in order to avoid this kind of oversight from occurring in the future.”
The offending image was removed yesterday but it raises questions about the internal review process for adding such art to the game and why no one spotted the thinly disguised slur. The Division 2 is a complicated game, both a fun loot shooter and a story with some less than subtle politics. This stumble goes to show that even in a supposedly apolitical game something nasty can slip through the cracks.