As one of the most well known characters in the Gears of War series, Augustus Cole has earned a mostly positive reception, but also criticism and accusations of racism by some sources.

[1] Cole is concepted as an ex-professional player of Thrashball, a contact sport heavily inspired by American football, prior to the events of the video game series.

[6] Speight said the character's popularity led to many fans identifying him as Cole, and they would regularly express their excitement towards him and his work via social media sites, websites and in person.

[6] Dan Ryckert from Gameinformer have noted the real-life resemblance of Speight, a former footballer, to his character, commenting that "casting choices don't get much easier than this".

[7] In Gears of War, Cole and Baird are first encountered by Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago as the surviving members of Alpha Squad.

Doctor Hana Cole appears as a supporting character in the Gears 5 downloadable content expansion pack, Hivebusters.

[10][11] In August 2007, North American game-related cable TV channel G4 awarded Speight "Best Voiceover" for his performance as Augustus Cole.

[13] In 2011, Cole placed #46 on a reader's poll organized by Guinness Book of Records for the top 50 video game characters of all time.

[13] Tamoor Hussain from GameSpot praised a new version of the track which was featured in a trailer promoting the release of Gears of War Ultimate Edition in 2016.

[18] In January 2017, former American football player Lenwood Hamilton sued Epic Games, Microsoft, and Speight, alleging that the character of Augustus Cole is taken from his own likeness and voice without his consent.

Lenwood was ultimately unsuccessful in his bid: according to a Pennsylvania federal court, a motion by Microsoft, Lester Speight and the other defendants for summary judgment on First Amendment grounds was granted, and that the defendants' First Amendment right to free expression in creating the Augustus Cole character that allegedly resembled plaintiff outweighed plaintiff's right of publicity.