One of the biggest store chains in the United States: Walmart tries to be safe.

Walmart’s employees are being instructed to remove signage, demos, and displays for entertainment products (which includes video games) that include violence or aggressive imagery. It happens after a mass shooting that happened at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas (where a gunman killed 22 and wounded 24 – he is believed to be the author of a manifesto published online ahead of the shooting that included racist diatribes, hate speech, and white supremacist beliefs). Vice reports that multiple employees have shared this information on social media.

One example of it is from Twitter. The message has one relevant part: „video game display consoles that show a demo of violent games, specifically PlayStation [4 Slim, PlayStation 4 Pro] and Xbox [One S, Xbox One X] units.” They also have to cancel events promoting combat or third-person shooter games, avoid showing violent movies or hunting season videos, and remove any product referencing combat or third-person shooters.

Apparently Walmart is telling its employees to take down displays that show violent video games, specifically shooters, as well as movies and hunting videos. pic.twitter.com/2N3t4B86tf

— Kenneth Shepard (@shepardcdr) August 7, 2019

There was another shooting recently at a Walmart on July 30 in Southaven, Mississippi, where an employee killed two coworkers and injured a police officer before being arrested.

So far, the story is straightforward, but it takes a twist at the fact that you can still buy firearms at Walmarts. Still, because according to Walmart’s statement, despite requests, they are not going to change their policy, even though it would be the most logical move.

So there is a weird double standard here: they hide games deemed violent, while the weapons needed to perform mass shootings are still being sold as if nothing happened. This story is likely far from over – we have yet to see if Walmart changes its policy or not (as in: will the games return to their place or not?).

Source: Gamesindustry