The Cyberpunk 2077 source code leak has led to some interesting discoveries such as an apparent referral to Chinese censorship with the flag "Winnie the Pooh" and an amusing internal bug video.
Earlier this year, CD Projekt Red reported that it had been hit with a ransomware attack. The group behind the attack claimed to have stolen the Cyberpunk 2077 source code and The Witcher 3 source code among other things. Now, bits and pieces of new info have been popping up online according to Eurogamer and elsewhere — including what appears to be a somewhat amusing way of flagging Chinese censorship in the game.
What Does "Winnie the Pooh" Have to Do with Chinese Censorship?
The Cyberpunk 2077 source code leak reportedly refers to Chinese censorship as "Censor_WinnieThePooh," a nod to an Internet meme about Chinese President Xi Jinping.
A 2013 photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping and former U.S. President Barack Obama was compared to an image featuring two characters from the Winnie the Pooh media franchise. As a consequence, any comparisons between Xi Jinping and Winnie the Pooh were reportedly banned from Chinese social media. Naturally, this led the rest of the world to let loose with a neverending torrent of similar comparisons and memes.
So, how does this relation between President Jinping and Winnie the Pooh fit into Cyberpunk 2077? Well, portions of the source code were revealed on 4chan [NSFW] (Archive) via Reddit and TheGamer. A single screenshot shows the names of flags for censoring various parts of the game; any censorship for the Chinese market appears to be tagged as "Censor_WinnieThePooh" in the code.
Mind, there aren't just options for Chinese-specific censorship; sexuality, drugs, gore, and religion are also covered with their own special flags. The practice of tagging content for censorship isn't particularly unusual for such a large game; rather, it's the amusing choice of a coding variable that's interesting here.
Cyberpunk 2077 Source Code Leak Also Reveals Hilarious Bug Compilation
The apparent nod to an Internet meme in the Cyberpunk 2077 source code wasn't the only amusing discovery — several bug compilation videos have also been revealed.
As shown on Reddit, several videos highlight some pretty amusing bugs with the game. Some of these segments are set to music, implying that these videos may have been intended for release to the public at some point. The bugs include physics glitches (as often happen) and various errors with character models.
The Cyberpunk 2077 source code leak has only been out for a few days; we're sure to find more interesting details as people have time to explore the code. We've reached out to CD Projekt Red on this matter and will update this article when we receive a reply.
What do you think of how the Cyberpunk 2077 source code leak reportedly refers to Chinese censorship? Do you think CD Projekt Red should have released the bug compilation videos? Let us know in the comments below!
