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Gears 5 might feature people with big shoulders cutting each other up with chainsaw guns, but it won’t be featuring anyone lighting up a cigar, it’s been revealed over the weekend.
Variety first reported that the move came after US anti-smoking-initative Truth Initative approached American broadcasting company Turner, who have the current broadcast rights to Gears as an eSport and the latter working with Gears developer The Coalition to remove all references.
A statement from head of studio Rod Fergusson reportedly said ‘I’ve seen firsthand the devastating impact of smoking. It’s always been important for me to not use smoking as a narrative device, which is why we made the conscious choice to avoid highlighting or glorifying smoking in ‘Gears 5’ and throughout the Gears of War Universe moving forward.’
However, Rod Fergusson himself slightly disputes that the partnership was the only reason for the change, clarifying that the smoking references never existed in the first place, in part because of his own efforts to not include it in the franchise since the Epic Games era, saying ‘I’ve been against smoking from the beginning and have worked hard to not make it a part of our franchise.’
To be fair, this isn’t entirely accurate. I’ve been against smoking from the beginning and have worked hard to not make it a part of our franchise. Ever notice that the Dizzy concept art for Gears 2 has a cigarette but the actual character in the game doesn’t? I stopped it. https://t.co/KahohpMH3A
— Rod Fergusson (@GearsViking) July 12, 2019
One thing that will be in the upcoming shooter is more multiplayer maps, and another one was revealed over the weekend as part of the ELeague Gears Summer Series Invitational (which the Truth Initative has partnered with Turner on, incidentally). Training Grounds follows on from last week’s reveal of District, which was shown off last week.
Gears 5 is due for release on Xbox One and PC on September 10.
