It"s been a bit of a shaky launch for the zombie action game Dead Island. The Steam PC version of the game from developer Techland and publisher Deep Silver was originally released earlier this week but it turned out to be an earlier developer build of the game, not the final retail version, that made its way to Steam customers. The publisher quickly updated the game to the final shipping build of Dead Island. However, people who have poked around the older developer version found something in the code.
As reported by Kotaku, members of Steam"s message board posted up word that the code featured a in-game skill called ""FeministWhorePurna". The skill is thought to be an earlier name for the Gender Wars skill that is featured in the final shipping versions of Dead Island. In using that skill, the character Purna gains a damage increase against male characters.
Techland"s brand manager Blazej Krakowiak said, "The line in question was something a programmer considered a private joke. The skill naturally has a completely different in-game name and the script reference was also changed." He added, "We deeply regret that fact and we apologize to all our customers or anyone who might have been offended by that inappropriate expression. The person responsible for this unfortunate situation will face professional consequences for violating the professional standards and beliefs Techland stands for."
Publisher Deep Silver also sent out its own statement, saying, "These unfortunate actions were of one individual at developer company Techland and do not in any way represent the views of publishing company Deep Silver."