[Update: This article's headline has been changed from the original, EA Play Delayed By Publisher Over BLM Protests Without Mentioning Them, to emphasize that EA had previously expressed their support for the movement in a previous official statement and that the reason behind this scheduling change was therefore implied.]

Electronic Arts has delayed its forthcoming EA Play event in the wake of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, pushing them back a week. The US has been witnessing nationwide protests lately, aimed at curbing the rampant racial discrimination prevalent in certain sections of their society. The political action was kickstarted by the on-tape murder of George Floyd by a group of Minneapolis policemen, leading to peaceful protests, a reactionary wave of further police brutality, and - now - rioting.

While some brands have maintained a neutral ground and refused to comment on the situation, a large portion of the gaming industry has come forward to support racial equity in the US. Most noteworthy was The Pokemon Company's generous contribution, having pledged to donate $100,000 each to NAACP and BLM. Similarly, fans across the world have been waiting for the anticipated PS5 reveal, but Sony decided to postpone the incident to ensure that the focus doesn't deviate from humanitarian issues at hand. Certain brands faced their fair share of criticism as well. Rockstar decided to temporarily take down GTA Online's and Red Dead Online's servers during George Floyd's funeral, prompting community backlash for Rockstar's failure to donate any money despite it's notoriously high GTA Online profits.

Related: How To Support Black Video Game Developers

In a tweet, EA officially announced that it will be delaying its annual EA Play showcase event to ensure that "more important voices [are] being heard." The event has been postponed to the June 18, 2020 and will start at 4 PM PDT. While already annualized for a few summer seasons by this point, this year's EA Play is being planned to showcase the publisher's games that couldn't be revealed at E3 2020 due to the event's cancellation amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Though it may seem surprising that the announcement doesn't directly mention the BLM protests, only an implication of them, the publisher had already previously expressed its outrage over US racial inequality, spoken out against police brutality, and shown solidarity with its players and affected communities in a recent official blog post. In this way, Electronic Arts is directly deviating paths from some other particularly cynical brands, such as Blizzard. Fellow publisher and publicly maligned conglomerate Activision Blizzard was called out for having tweeted in support of the BLM protests when it advocated for an eerie silence during last year's Honk Kong protests, even banning players in support of Hong Kong's independence to ensure it wouldn't upset Chinese players or anger China's authoritarian government.

Although EA's weeklong delay of EA Play didn't announce its reasoning directly, there's no question that even the hugest of companies can stand with protesters to fight for the societal change they all believe in. Having pledged massive amounts of funds to suitable charities, theirs and other cooperating company's cooperation and transparency is crucial right now. If their customers can become more aware of greater issues through moves like these, they can change their outlook and behaviors, and that's more than half the battle.

Next: Modern Warfare Loading Screens Replaced With Black Lives Matter Message

Source: EA/Twitter, EA