World of Warcraft Paintings Were Censored to Reduce Sexual Content

World of Warcraft Paintings Were Censored

Following a number of lawsuits and sexual harassment claims, Activision and Blizzard Entertainment have been trying to clean up their image, we’ve learned the latest is World of Warcraft paintings were censored to reduce their sexual nature.

The news that World of Warcraft paintings were censored comes via longtime World of Warcraft aggregator site WoWHead, who provided a note on the change and the both the original and new in-game paintings:


(Click to enlarge)

The original painting of the woman in a v-cut robe was changed to feature a less sexualized woman in a fully-covered top and was originally found in the city of Stormwind. The lounging woman, found in Ravenholdt, was completely replaced with a bowl of fruit.

It remains unclear if these changes, while minor, are being made to remove any potential examples of sexual content in their games due to the nature of the California lawsuit against the company – which alleges that Blizzard discriminated against female employees and that female employees make up only 20% of staff.

This isn’t the first example of Blizzard censored in-game content to reduce sexuality – back in 2019 it covered up Jaina Proudmoore’s card portrait in Hearthstone to cover up the cleavage she originally had:

The damage to Blizzard Entertainment’s reputation is so great that sitting company president J. Allen Brack was forced to step down, among a host of other staff departures at the company.

World of Warcraft is available on Windows PC, and Mac (via Battle.net).

, ,

About

Owner and Publisher at Niche Gamer and Nicchiban. Outlaw fighting for a better game industry.


Where'd our comments go? Subscribe to become a member to get commenting access and true free speech!