GOG apologized after a June 5th promotional newsletter for the Slavic mythology game The End of the Sun included symbols that rendered as Nazi SS imagery on some platforms, with the company citing miscommunication, font rendering inconsistencies, and holiday understaffing.
GOG, the digital games storefront owned by CD Projekt, issued an apology after a promotional newsletter sent on June 5th included symbols associated with the Nazi Schutzstaffel, drawing swift criticism from users and confusion from the game's own developers.
The newsletter was promoting The End of the Sun, a fantasy title set in a universe rooted in Slavic mythology and culture. To reflect that theme, GOG included Slavic runes in the email — among them the Sowilō symbol, which translates to "sun." The problem arose when certain platforms, including mobile phones, rendered the rune as ϟ, a character visually identical to the SS lightning bolt associated with the Nazi paramilitary organization.
GOG attributed the incident to what it described as "a series of mistakes," citing miscommunication with its German quality assurance team, inconsistent font rendering across platforms, and being understaffed during a bank holiday.
A statement posted on Reddit by a verified GOG representative added another layer of complexity. "I also recognize that placing two such runes next to each other could create an unfortunate association with symbols used by the Nazi regime," the representative wrote. "This was noticed before distribution, and out of respect for local sensitivities, the material was not sent to the German community."
That disclosure prompted immediate questions from users: if the company recognized the potential for harmful association before sending the newsletter, why was it distributed to other regions at all.
The developers of The End of the Sun distanced themselves from the design choice entirely. "We don't know why GOG used symbols in their newsletter. Really, we were also totally surprised when we saw the logo in the newsletter (the old logo) and the symbols next to the newsletter title," the development team wrote in a Reddit thread.
The episode reflects the layered difficulties of internationalizing content for a global audience, where symbols carry sharply different meanings across cultural and historical contexts — and where inconsistent rendering across devices can transform an intended visual into something altogether different.
For GOG, which has long positioned itself as a consumer-friendly alternative to Steam, the incident arrives as an unwanted distraction. The platform's multiple, and at times conflicting, explanations have drawn as much scrutiny as the original newsletter, with users questioning the internal review process that allowed the material to reach subscribers outside Germany after the rendering issue had already been flagged internally.
Sara Montes de Oca is the Editor in Chief of TechEchelon. Previously a correspondent and producer in Washington, D.C., covering business, finance, and politics.
More from Sara →The Commerce Department is moving to ease semiconductor export controls on the UAE and has pledged to "favorably review" applications involving MGX, the state-backed firm that used a Trump family-linked stablecoin for its $2 billion Binance investment. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called the provision "corrupt."
Michigan's Aug. 4 Democratic Senate primary between progressive Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens is emerging as a test of whether AI and data center anxieties can move voters — and set the tone for how Democrats message on tech policy nationally.
The two largest AI political action committees have spent at least $44 million on 2026 midterm candidates through the end of June, drawing from a combined war chest of more than $200 million as the industry positions itself to shape the first national AI legislation.
Written for readers who already know the basics — markets, AI, and the policy decisions that shape both.