Does this look like a healthy working environment to you?

Polish developer Techland has apologised to gamers offended by content found in an incomplete build of its action horror game Dead Island. As reported by Stuff Tracey Writes, a version of Dead Island erroneously published on Steam last week contains a line of code reading “FeministWh*re”. The offending edition of the game has since been replaced, but the slur will do little to assuage the perception that the industry hasn’t done enough to address its ‘boys club’ culture.

Techland has reacted strongly. Attributing the mistake to a solitary employee, it labelled the line “inappropriate”. According to the developer, the programmer responsible will “face professional consequences” for breaching the company’s “standards and beliefs”. Dead Island’s publisher, meanwhile, appears keen to distance itself from the controversy. Deep Silver has stated that 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.”