Cyberpunk creator denounces 2077 backlash

On June 12, 2019, Rock Paper Shotgun made an article calling the (at the time) upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 racist, while some users on Twitter accused the game of being transphobic. The racism is from the fact that there are Haitian people called "Voodoo Boys" and the fact that a Black man betrays the protagonist who is white and that there's a gang called "Animals" that are predominately Black. The transphobic part came from the fact that there's an ad with what seemed like a female with a penis and it saying "16 flavors you'd love to mix".

Response
Ironically, many people of Black, Caribbean, and Haitian descent (including the creator of Cyberpunk 2077, Mike Pondsmith) praised the inclusion of the characters and the fact that they understood everything they said when speaking they're native language. They didn't see it as offensive in any way.

In response to the "transphobic" ad, art director Kasia Redesiuk stated: “Personally, for me, this person is sexy,” “I like how this person looks. However, this model is used — their beautiful body is used — for corporate reasons. They are displayed there just as a thing, and that’s the terrible part of it. In [the year] 2077, especially with how much body modifications are available, I think people just mix and match however they want, however they feel. And even society is more open to different kinds of relationships.”

“Cyberpunk 2077 is a dystopian future where megacorporations dictate everything. They try to, and successfully, influence people’s lives. They shove products down their throats. They create those very aggressive advertisements that use, and abuse, a lot of people’s needs and instincts. So, hypersexualization is apparent everywhere, and in our ads there are many examples of hypersexualized women, hypersexualized men, and hypersexualized people in between. This is all to show that [much like in our modern world], hypersexualization in advertisements is just terrible. It was a conscious choice on our end to show that in this world — a world where you are a cyberpunk, a person fighting against corporations. That [advertisement] is what you’re fighting against.”

“I would say it was never the intention to offend anyone. However, with this image of an oversexualized person, we did want to show how oversexualization of people is bad. And that’s it. I think that sexy bodies are sexy. Full disclosure: I love female bodies. I love male bodies. I love bodies in between. This is who I am. However, I hate it when it’s used commercially. And that’s exactly what we want to show by doing this exactly, by showing how big corporations use people’s bodies against them.”

For Redesiuk, the fictional advertisement is also an effort to increase empathy for the LGBTQ community among video game consumers.

“We need it,” Redesiuk said. “I honestly think we need it because we need more acceptance in the world, and we need to also show how the goodness of people is sometimes used against them. And I would really love for the world to change and be a better place for everyone.”

Aftermath
Over on 4chan’s /pol/, one user posted the ad and proudly declared Cyberpunk 2077 “/ourgame/,” implying the title’s politics align with the site’s far-right beliefs. And on Gamergate subreddit r/KotakuInAction, users praised the joke and belittled its critics. One poster wrote, “Hats off to CD project [sic] as they don’t tend to give in to the crazies. They know it won’t affect their sales.”

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