In the Vice City remaster, Phil Cassidy's outfit appears to have changed. According to a recent teaser, the upgraded Grand Theft Auto: Trilogy appears to be abandoning the Confederate flag. The footage, which was released last week, shows arms dealer Phil Cassidy, but without the insignia of Southern slavery on his chest.

Cassidy, a regular GTA character, appears briefly in the new video at 0:34, but you can plainly see him wearing a black t-shirt with a skull across the front instead of his customary Confederate flag. It's unclear whether this implies all portrayals of the Confederate flag have been deleted from the remasters, although it seems odd that Rockstar Games would make such a change only for the trailer.

Cassidy appears in GTA III, Vice City, Liberty City Stories, and Vice City Stories as a gun nut and a drinker. Vice City, on the other hand, is where he's most frequently portrayed, and it's the only game in which he's dressed in a Confederate flag. Cassidy loses one of his arms when one of his moonshine bombs inadvertently explodes during the games, plus he's basically an asshole fuckup, so it's not exactly a symbol endorsement.

The Confederate flag, which has long been a symbol of Southern states inciting a violent Civil War in defense of slavery, has now come under increased criticism as more white people recognize how racist it is. In 2015, Apple deleted games that included it from the App Store. Twitch banned the Confederate flag from displaying anywhere on its broadcasting platform just a year ago.

It's also becoming more typical for game makers to remove additional offensive elements before re-releasing them. Capcom has removed sexual comments and upskirting from Resident Evil 4's new VR edition, however, the original version is still available on Steam. GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas were removed from sale by Rockstar prior to the Trilogy's release on November 11.