‘FIFA 21’ Has “Toxic” Celebrations Removed

When Fifa 21 launches on October 9, there will be a pair of post-goal celebrations that will be missing. The first will be a shushing celebration that players often used to waste time and run out the clock and an “A-OK” celebration which has been linked to a white supremacist hand sign. This celebration was also nixed from Call of Duty: Warzone. “We were told by the community that there’s toxic behaviors in the game and we wanted to make sure we removed them,” lead gameplay producer Sam Rivera explained during a July preview event. “So we removed some of the celebrations that people thought were not the best idea to have in the game.”

This is a product of a recent movement to get rid of racist or harmful coded language and actions from popular video games while also trying to increase representation in these games. EA will also add in time-saving measures in order to speed up online games that can drag on for a bit including less celebration time between goals and cutting some cinematic scenes between corner and penalty kicks.