EA Sports Removes Toxic Celebrations From 'FIFA 21'

KEY POINTS

To reduce overall toxicity in sports, EA Sports is removing some celebrations that are viewed as toxic from "FIFA 21"
The "Shush" and "A-OK" celebrations were specifically targeted as disrespectful celebratory moves that will not appear in this year's game
Some cinematic animations and time-wasting behavior is also being removed, seen as an attempt to speed the game up

EA Sports has confirmed that it has removed a couple of controversial celebrations from “FIFA 21” to both reduce toxicity and speed the game up a little. Pulled are the “Shush” and “A-OK” celebrations after goals are scored, and EA is warning that more changes are on the horizon.

Trashtalk is prevalent in real sports and that has manifested itself in the celebrations in games like “FIFA 21.” Your opponent is forced to watch you celebrate. The “Shush” celebration is particularly infamous as it is done after the player who scored is running. Eurogamer points out that It essentially extends the celebration time jogging up and down the pitch.

On the other hand, the “A-OK” celebration was made famous by Tottenham Hotspurs midfielder Dele Alli. It went viral after Alli did it after scoring a goal. It looks a bit like an OK sign with the "o" held over the player's eye (it went viral because people couldn't work out how to do it).

After appearing in “FIFA 20,” this celebration will now be a one-season wonder after it has been removed from “FIFA 21.” It isn’t known within the FIFA community for being particularly toxic and when EA was asked for comment, they had not offered an explanation of why it was taken out.

In July, though, Infinity Ward quietly removed the OK gesture from “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” and “Call of Duty: Warzone,” probably due to its status as a symbol of hate.

Other infamous FIFA celebrations not mentioned by EA Sports as being pulled from the game include the outdated dab, and the Cristiano Ronaldo calm down celebration. EA has said that it is planning to make more changes “in this area,” so there’s a chance that more celebrations are removed before “FIFA 21” is released.

Among other changes that EA Sports is eliminating is the walk back cinematic after a goal in online matches and reducing the length of goal celebrations.

In an attempt to speed the game up even more, Eurogamer notes that EA has tweaked the game to reduce other toxic time-wasting behavior. In “FIFA 20,” players were able to time-waste for up to 30 seconds during set-pieces, such as kick-offs and throw-ins. For “FIFA 21,” EA has reduced the amount of time you can wait for various set-pieces.

“FIFA 21” will also auto-skip some animation sequences when the ball goes out of play in online matches.