EA has reportedly been inundated in recent weeks by “several thousand” letters protesting the inclusion of same sex content in Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic.
EA confirmed this to GamesIndustryInternational and has responded that the publisher has no plans to censor any of its games.
“Every one of EA’s games includes ESRB content descriptors so it’s hard to believe anyone is surprised by the content. This isn’t about protecting children, it’s about political harassment,” says Jeff Brown, VP of corporate communications at EA.
Many of these letters reportedly threaten to boycott EA titles if the publisher refuses to remove same-sex relationship content. The letters also suggest that EA was pressured by LGBT groups to include homosexual content in its games, and that this should not be forced upon children.
“EA has not been pressured by any groups to include LGBT characters in our games. However, we have met with LBGT groups and sponsored industry forums to discuss content and harassment of players in online forums. In short, we do put options for same-sex relationships in our games; we don’t tolerate hate speech on our forums,” Brown added.