The past week has been quite a terrible one for the United States, as the nation suffered multiple mass shootings that lead to numerous injuries and deaths. Interestingly, big box retail store chain Walmart ended up being connected to these events, as a Walmart store was the location of the mass shooting in Dayton, and an armored suspect was arrested upon suspicion of another potential shooting in a Missouri Walmart today. Despite studies pointing to video games not causing mass shootings, violent games have been in the conversation lately as an influence. As a result, Walmart stores have been ordered to remove violent video game demo displays.

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

Several online sources, such as Kenneth Shepard on Twitter, have shared the recent orders from Walmart corporate that have been sent to the management of Walmart stores. The mandate tells employees to shut off any visual displays of violence, particularly those of violent video game demo displays for PlayStation and Xbox. However, it seems that this action will not be permanent, as Walmart Spokesperson Tara House states:

We’ve taken this action out of respect for the incidents of the past week, and this action does not reflect a long-term change in our video game assortment.”

Interestingly, the memo also requests for hunting display videos to be turned off in Walmart sporting good sections, despite many Walmart stores carrying guns in these sections and not indicating any intent to stop their sale. It could be understood that these moves are being made to be sensitive towards the victims of the attacks given Walmart’s connection to the events, but it does seem like Walmart is contributing to a perceived causality of mass shootings by video games, to some extent. It likely will not be too long before Walmart returns violence to their stores, given its prevalence in American pop culture, but hopefully the country also takes proper legislative action to curtail mass shootings and prevent undue actions against the gaming industry. A Rollback to the violent gaming fears of the 90s would definitely not be a pleasant view to watch.

Do you guys think Walmart stores should be removing violent video game displays? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to stay tuned for the latest video game news, such as Square Enix receiving threats of arson attacks like the one at Kyoto Animation, here on Don’t Feed the Gamers. Follow us on Twitter to see our updates the minute they go live.