Electronic Arts has announced that it will remove all references to the Washington Redskins from its forthcoming sports game, Madden NFL 21.
Last week, the American football team revealed it would be changing its name, logo and branding, which have long been accused of being offensive to Native Americans.
Because the new team name and logo have not yet been decided upon, EA will replace the Redskins name with a “generic Washington team” when the game launches in August.
Once the Washington team has decided on a new name and logo, this will then be implemented in the game through a post-launch update.
A spokesperson for EA told The Verge: “We are pleased to see Washington’s decision to change their team name and visual identity. We are quickly working to update Madden NFL 21 to feature a generic Washington team, while we await final word on the updated team name and logo design.
“Players may continue to see some outdated Washington references in other areas of the game at launch, but we are committed to removing all of those from the game in additional title updates coming shortly after launch.”
The Madden franchise is one of the most popular sports simulators in gaming. Madden NFL 21 is scheduled to be released on 25 August on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, before arriving on PS5 and Xbox Series X when the consoles debut later in the year.
