Video game festival E3 ‘tones down violence’ in wake of Orlando mass shooting

Exhibitors at the video games festival E3 are reportedly planning to cut back on depictions of violence following the Orlando terror attacks.

Industry experts said gaming firms did not wish to appear insensitive in the days after an ISIS killer slaughtered 50 people at a gay nightclub.

Although the games industry is unlikely to remove violence from its titles, big companies are expected to be more guarded in the way they present new releases this year.

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"I think we're all in the process of understanding and internalizing what happened last night, and that's an individual experience and a company experience," said Mike Gallagher, CEO of a trade organisation called the E3-coordinating Entertainment Software Association.

: "I do know that steps are being taken by individual publishers to be sensitive to the national mood at the moment and those types of things.

"I think you'll see this manifest in different ways by different companies. Overall, there's a sensitivity, there's absolutely a sense of shared grief, I'm quite certain, in this industry with the families of the victims... There's a respect for that."

First person shoot 'em ups are among the most popular - and most violent - titles in the gaming world.

Electronic Arts hosted a press conference for a game in this genre just hours after the atrocity, in which it reportedly did not mention the terror attack.

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"Witnessing a sales pitch for the fun in gun violence felt strange, to say the least," .

"It's not just the uncomfortable collision of fantasy and reality — the dream world of violence in the auditorium, and the real world of violence outside it — it's the uncanny monotony they share."

The tech website went on to claim the E3 conference "has a reputation for celebrating graphic violence with an adolescent zeal".

It said gamers whooped and cheered as an EA-designed World War 1 game called Battlefield 1 was unveiled.

But on Twitter, some people reacted badly to the suggestion of a link between real world violence and the brutality depicted in video games.

However, other people said it was right and appropriate to tone down violence in the wake of the bloodbath.

Some gamers said it was impossible to enjoy E3 following the second attack on American soil in just six months.

E3 runs from June 14 to 16 and is expected to feature announcements from many of the world's biggest games designers.