Hardline's subject matter was uncomfortable to anyone who's ever lived in a large metropolitan city far before any of this mess in Missouri started, now it's downright gross if you ask me. If there's anything that this has proven it's that militarized police and police corruption are very real things and when you take a formerly military themed game and then apply the same weapons/technology to an urban pacification setting you are sending a seriously uncomfortable message that hits way too close to home for a large portion of Americans.
In fairness there really was no way for the devs or EA to know that Ferguson would happen and theses would go from moderately hot-button issues to nuclear hot-button issues, but that doesn't change the fact that it did and they are.
I'm not in favor of censoring games, however I personally think that if they want to save some PR face they should A: retool the assets of Hardline into something less inflammatory or B: shelf the project for a year or so for the heat of this issue to die down somewhat.
In fairness there really was no way for the devs or EA to know that Ferguson would happen and theses would go from moderately hot-button issues to nuclear hot-button issues, but that doesn't change the fact that it did and they are.
I'm not in favor of censoring games, however I personally think that if they want to save some PR face they should A: retool the assets of Hardline into something less inflammatory or B: shelf the project for a year or so for the heat of this issue to die down somewhat.