According to a report in Eurogamer, Electronic Arts has decided to remove two goal celebrations from "FIFA 21," "Shush" and "A-Ok," as part of its efforts to combat toxicity in the "FIFA" game.

Since Shush is a running celebration, the problem was that players could waste time (and annoy opponents) by jogging around the field while using Shush. The reason for the removal of A-Ok, which was only added last year, is less clear, but it hinges on the same "OK" gesture that Activision recently removed from "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" and "Warzone" due to its association with the white supremacy movement.

"We were told by the community that there was harmful behavior in the game and we wanted to ensure that it was removed. That's why we removed some of the celebrations that we didn't think were a good idea to have in the game," said lead gameplay producer Sam Rivera

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"The flow has been shortened so that you can keep playing most of the time instead of just waiting. The intention is to keep you playing instead of doing other things in the game that might not be necessary."

Other changes aimed at reducing bad behavior in FIFA 21 include reducing the amount of time players can spend on kickoffs, throw-ins, goal kicks, and certain other events. In addition, some animations are automatically skipped when the ball goes out of play during online matches; EA has stated that other changes aimed at reducing toxicity in online FIFA matches are also likely to occur.

FIFA 21 will be released on October 9, but those who pre-order the Ultimate Edition or Champions Edition will get it three days early; Origin Access Premier subscribers can jump into a demo version of the game starting October 1.

Update: According to an Electronic Arts representative, the A-Ok celebratory gesture will be removed because of its potentially racist connotations. It is also considered an obscene gesture in Brazil.