The vulva saga continues. After Kotaku broke the news that CDPR had added more realistic genitals to some of the women in The Witcher 3 with its next-gen update, then broke the news that those realistic genitals would be removed as their addition was “unintended,” it now seems that the mod itself was used by CDPR without permission (NSFW Warning).
Vaginas for Everyone is an old Nexus Mods mod created for the original PC release of The Witcher 3. It does as the name suggests: it adds realistic vulva and pubic hair to many of the female NPCs, including ones who never explicitly do full-frontal nudity in the game. After examining the way the genitals are depicted in the mod and comparing them to the ones seen in the next-gen version of The Witcher 3, I reached out to the mod’s creator to confirm if their creation was indeed one of the fan-made mods CDPR had boasted about adding into the next-gen update.
Though the mod in question has two different pubic hair options, the landing strip version looks nearly identical to the genitals seen on the crones in the next-gen Witcher 3 update, down to the dusting of soft pubic hair outside of the landing strip and the layout of the labia.
According to the modder, who just recently responded to my DM on Nexus Mods after seeing Kotaku’s story, CDPR “used [their] mod” but “[they] didn’t know about it, nor did they ask [them] for permission.” I responded and asked for their contact information to get more details and also reached out to CDPR for comment, but did not receive a response from either by the time of publication.
It’s unclear how the modder in question could confirm whether or not the studio had used their mod, but considering how similar they look and CDPR’s own statement, it’s certainly possible. In response to a question about the inclusion of the more realistic genitals in the upgraded game, CDPR told Kotaku that “the next-gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt features several community-sourced mods not created by CD PROJEKT RED, on top of numerous enhancements created and implemented by the studio internally. Merging everything together was a complex process and the textures in question are an unintended result present in the release version. This is something we are working to address.”
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The studio then confirmed that it would be removing the genitals from the update, writing “these textures were not meant to be present in the release version of the game.”
Shortly before the free Witcher 3 update released last year, CDPR released a list of mods that would still work with the upgraded version of the game, which brought 4K textures and a 60fps performance mode to the beloved RPG. The team also confirmed that it would be adding fan-made mods to the game, but published a list of 71 other mods that would still work with the new version, including different hairstyles for Geralt, a no fall damage mod, and a gore mod. The Vaginas for Everyone mod is not listed on the spreadsheet.
Interestingly, that same forum post that lists the mods that will work with the updated game also states:
Additionally, we are including several popular mods in the update (they’ll be available depending on the platform). We obtained permissions from their creators, reimbursed them, and they’ll be featured in the credits of the updated game. The mods were reworked and assets optimised as needed, and the game adjusted to run with them. There was even a case when a dev got so engrossed in tinkering when including a mod that he ended up simply remaking that particular aspect of the game. So, in a way, the game comes with some mods already included.
So, if this mod was, indeed, included in The Witcher 3 next-gen update without the modder’s permission (or without any reimbursement), then CDPR may have an entirely different problem on their hands…
