Smoking Was Never Removed From Gears 5, Studio Head Clarifies Was Never Present In Game

This past weekend, a wave of unusual news hit the gaming industry as Variety published a piece stating that September’s upcoming Gears 5 will not featuring any reference of smoking as a result due to the game’s newly announced ELeague following the game’s release. The entertainment outlet went to disclose that non-profit organization Truth Initiative pressed Turner, the company that currently holds the rights to broadcasting the league, to remove any traces of smoking from the game ahead of the esports event’s debut.

However, the reasoning that swayed The Coalition to cleanse any reference towards usage of tobacco roots before the planned league for Gears 5. Studio head Rod Fergusson while sharing his advocacy of being anti-smoking, he clarifies that the Truth Infinitive’s involvement with Turner is not what ultimately decided to remove smoking from the game.

Following the report from Variety, Fergusson responded by explaining that he’s been against the practice going back to his development on previous Gears of War titles while at Epic Games.

Proceeding from his tweet, Ferguson continued within the thread combating users who justify smoking under the game’s mature rating; the user asking why it would be removed if the game is intended for an older audience, Fergusson responded with “It was never removed. It was never there in the first place.” “Again, no censorship. There was no smoking so nothing was censored,” Fergusson told another user after claiming censorship is to blame for the decision.

In a separate tweet, The Coalition boss explained the reasoning for his pursuit to exclude any form of smoking from the series ultimately is due to his father being a victim of the practice as he passed away from a related heart attack when Fergusson was in adolescence.

Despite his unfortunate backing to the decision for no smoking in the coming Gears title, many users still proceed with claiming that it is primarily chosen to censor the game whilst favoring to include smoking in the title. Smoking has been a fault within my own life through my immediate family, so the choice for no reference of the activity is understandable and is given my support on the matter.

Are you fine with the decision for smoking’s exclusion from the Gears of War franchise?

Gears 5 will be out on September 15, 2019 for Xbox One and PC.