Electronic Arts (EA), one of the most notorious juggernauts in the Western gaming industry, has long drawn criticism for predatory microtransactions, especially in its yearly sports franchises. But in recent years, EA has cemented a secondary, more damaging legacy: relentless ideological pandering under the guise of “diversity and inclusion.”
From Apex Legends to The Sims 4, and now Dragon Age: The Veilguard, EA has shown a consistent pattern, burning bridges with its core fanbase and torching beloved IPs in pursuit of political alignment.
Despite mounting consumer backlash, the company has only doubled down on its diversity and inclusivity agenda, now setting its sights on modding communities that push back. Its failed attempt to suppress the “DEI Remover” mod for The Sims 4 is a clear sign of its increasing hostility toward any form of dissent.
EA of course are the same company that eagerly bans players from its online-only competitive games for saying things like “shut the fuck up” and even bans foreign players simply for speaking their native language, just because some words in either Japanese or Spanish may resemble English slurs.
Fueled by the ideological takeover of feminism, 2024 was especially brutal for the gaming industry. EA themselves laid off over 670 employees while AAA gaming’s major players racked up one high-profile failure after another.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard was pitched as BioWare’s grand return yet it turned into a PR disaster. Directed by a male-to-female transgender and loaded with overt identity politics, the game featured top surgery (mutilation) scars, pronouns, and Disney-like dialogue that clashed with its dark fantasy roots.
Predictably, access media fawned over the game’s inclusivity. Players weren’t so forgiving. With sales reportedly landing at just half of EA’s projections, the title was quietly dumped onto PlayStation Plus mere months after launch, an effort to salvage engagement metrics.
This is the same EA that routinely injects LGBT-focused updates into Apex Legends, where characters are canonically non-binary and or queer. The Sims 4, a game with a largely female player base, has been aggressively retooled to serve as a vehicle for progressive messaging rather than player-driven creativity.
Over the past decade, the franchise introduced features like customizable pronouns (2022), a lesbian couple on the My Wedding Stories pack cover (2022), and the Black and trans NPC Celeste Michaelson in the Growing Together expansion (2023).
The 2024 Lovestruck expansion introduced polyamory to The Sims 4. By April 2025, EA doubled down with a free content update featuring LGBT-themed clothing and decor, as well as items tied to cultural observances like Juneteenth and Kwanzaa, none of which can be disabled in-game.
This prompted the rise of the “DEI Remover” mod: a community-made patch that strips The Sims 4 of its heavy-handed identity politics. The mod adjusts NPC generation to prevent Sims from automatically spawning as gay, trans, or obese.
It also brings back traditional terms like “husband and wife” and tones down rainbow hairstyles to more natural options. It quickly gained traction among players who simply wanted to enjoy the game without being inundated with ideological content.
The mod flew under the radar for over a year, but unsurprisingly, it eventually sparked backlash from EA and progressive influencers. In April 2025, a well-known Sims creator with over 300,000 followers posted a Facebook screenshot urging fans to report the mod.
The reaction from activist circles was immediate. On TikTok and Reddit, users slammed the mod as racist, homophobic, and transphobic. One TikTok user even launched a “F You, Sims Community” video series.
Despite the old adage that “once something’s on the internet, it’s there forever,” EA attempted to suppress the mod by issuing takedown notices to platforms like RPGHQ, citing copyright infringement. An email, allegedly from EA’s Senior IP Counsel Lisa Chin classified the “DEI Remover” mod as “infringing material.”
Still, the mod resurfaced almost immediately. On May 6, 2025, it was reposted on RPGHQ with a “Fair Use” disclaimer, openly defying EA’s legal threats.
The Sims franchise has a deep modding culture, with third-party content adding everything from new clothing and furniture to mechanics like working banks or preschools. But unlike traditional mods, the “DEI Remover” and others like it, which swap out neutral terms like “partner” or “spouse” for traditional “husband and wife” or remove gender pronouns have ignited controversy for rejecting EA’s push for forced inclusivity.
EA’s crackdown on the “DEI Remover” raises concerns over player autonomy in a single-player game. Modding has always been about personalizing the experience, whether through adult content or restoring cut features. At the end of the day, players should be free to mod their game however they like, especially since The Sims 4 has been free-to-play since 2022.
But clearly, challenging the pronoun agenda is where EA draws the line.
EA’s modding policy states that it reserves the right to take action against any content that violates its User Agreement, including material deemed “obscene, objectionable, or harmful.” This enforcement aligns with the company’s public commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Yet despite repeated efforts, EA has been unable to permanently remove the “DEI Remover” mod, which continues to reappear across alternative platforms.
This game of digital Whac-A-Mole highlights the difficulty of regulating user-generated content in a vast, decentralized modding ecosystem.
Mainstream modding hubs like NexusMods and GameBanana have regularly banned mods that undo or push back against modern ideological content, whether it’s retroactive censorship, forced inclusivity, or in-game disclaimers lecturing players, If it challenges progressive orthodoxy, it’s quickly taken down.
And even when these mods are hosted outside the usual platforms, they’re no longer safe. EA appears determined to pursue and suppress any attempt to sidestep its ideological mandates. Despite claiming to promote “choice,” the company seems only interested in offering choices that align with its values.
While EA openly supports hyper-sexualized Pride content, non-binary customization, transgender surgery markers, and pronoun selection, it offers little tolerance for dissent. Player attempts to restore traditional character norms are increasingly targeted, subject to bans, censorship, and treated as contraband.
This is the same company that has turned a blind eye for years to the flood of third-party adult mods in The Sims, including uncensored sex, drug use, and graphic violence.
Yet, a mod that removes NPCs being generated with top surgery scars and neo-pronouns? That’s where EA draws the line. Not for reasons of morality, but for optics. As one RPGHQ user put it: “Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.” Every time companies or platforms ban/deplatform a mod, more appear, some anonymously, others defiantly.
Why? Because when players are denied agency, they push back. And when progressive activists go after a relatively obscure mod, all it does is amplify awareness, draw support, and fuel further resistance. Outrage may trend, but it rarely silences.
Those who once warned about the slippery slope of DEI policies in gaming were mocked. Yet now, even franchises like The Sims have been transformed into ideological platforms. Apex Legends, once focused on gameplay, now reads like a DEI handbook with non-binary backstories and virtue-signaling arcs.
Still, 2024 was branded the “worst year in gaming history,” plagued by commercial failures like Concord and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, followed up with cancellations aplenty and massive layoffs from the likes of Activision, Microsoft and Sony.
This backlash isn’t exclusive to EA. NexusMods, for instance, reversed a controversial ban on a body-type mod for Oblivion Remastered following user outrage. It’s a sign of growing resistance toward what many see as overreach by companies enforcing DEI compliance.
EA isn’t the only company caught in this ideological spiral, but it’s certainly one of the most obvious offenders. The focus has shifted away from gameplay, creativity, and community. Now it’s about control, silencing opposition, censoring feedback, and enforcing compliance through bans, copyright threats, and public shaming.
When an ideology requires ruthless censorship to feign popularity and solidarity, it wasn’t worth defending in the first place.
You can download and keep the DEI Remover mod for The Sims 4 from either RPGHQ or DEG Mods.
