Microsoft Replaces Its Toy Gun Emoji With A ‘Real’ Revolver

There has been some debate regarding the gun emoji. There are some who wish for it to be gone, while there are others who believe that it shouldn’t be an issue as it is simply a drawing. Apple seems to be leaning more towards the former as they have since replaced the pistol emoji with a squirt gun.

Interestingly enough Microsoft seems to have done the exact opposite and have recently replaced the toy gun emoji they had before with a revolver. Microsoft did not get into specifics as to why they changed that particular emoji, but in a post on its blog, the company wrote, “They needed to feel more human, more personal, more expressive. It was time for a significant update, and Microsoft placed a bet on the strength of its Design Language.”

When Engadget asked for the reason, this was the response that they gave. “Our intent with every glyph is to align with the global Unicode standard, and the previous design did not map to industry designs or our customers’ expectations of the emoji definition. We will continue to work with the Unicode Consortium to refine and update glyphs that reflects customer needs, feedback and supports a consistent system that works across the digital world.”

Interestingly enough it seems that Google will not be doing anything different as the pistol emoji on the Android keyboard is still sticking around.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Microsoft