A Walmart advertisement for The Outer Worlds was discovered to be censoring the protagonist's gun with the game's popular Moon Man helmet from the game's narrative. Walmart had previously indicated that the company would begin enacting a harsher policy in terms of advertising firearms after a mass shooting in the United States earlier this year, a move that many consumers met with criticism given the retailer's decision to continue selling actual firearms regardless.
Video game censorship is in a delicate spot at the moment, as fans are beginning to rally behind the notion that they aren't having their voices heard by publishers and retailers. The most obvious example of that recent trend comes from Blizzard's handling of the blitzchung Hearthstone incident, which saw the Chinese professional player harshly penalized for voicing his support for the protests on-going in Hong Kong. While the company later back-tracked on some of the punishment, it maintained its stance overall, leading to fans attempting to organize protests for public events. While some public events, like the Blizzard Overwatch Nintendo Switch launch event in New York, were canceled, the same won't be happening at BlizzCon 2019 - which is the site many expect will play host to the next stage in the struggle between consumers and video game publishers over censorship.
The Walmart advertisement in question was first discovered by redditor GojuPonu, who shared the curious display on the Outer Worlds subreddit. The picture clearly obscures the protagonist's weapon using the Moon Man helmet, which looks extremely out of place in the image. Even more bizarre is the fact that the censored Outer Worlds display is directly beside Red Dead Redemption 2, which features an even more prominent weapon, and Resident Evil 2, which also features firearms on the cover. Given the more subdued nature of The Outer Worlds' gun art, it's strange that the line was drawn for Obsidian's new RPG and now other items on the shelves.
Of course, the new Walmart initiative is fresher than either of the other games' releases, and it's probably unrealistic to expect Walmart to fully censor every iteration of firearms advertising in video games. To their credit, the Outer Worlds subreddit is having a lot of fun with the image, using some of the game's anti-capitalist rhetoric to poke fun at the decision from Walmart.
In the grand scheme of video game censorship, the decision to put the Moon Man helmet on the advertising display of The Outer Worlds in Walmart is barely a blip on the radar. Bigger issues, like those facing Blizzard surrounding free speech and government interests, will remain a talking point for the rest of 2019, however, and maybe a less dramatic instance of censorship is the break consumers needed heading into what's sure to be an extremely interesting BlizzCon 2019.
The Outer Worlds is available now on PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One. A Nintendo Switch version has also been announced.
Source: GojuPonu/Reddit