Grand Theft Auto: The Franchise’s 5 Greatest Controversies

KeenGamer: "The Grand Theft Auto franchise has long been a vehicle for the mainstream media's criticism and the scorn of moral crusaders. Rockstar's seminal series has been blamed for all manner things, from racism to being the impetuses for murder. Here are five of Grand Theft Auto's greatest controversies."

[P_Bomb]

Hot coffee. The original “Netflix ‘n’ chill”!

[roadkillers]

Yeah. For all you younger kids, GTA3 up to San Andreas was extremely hated by the media and parents. I'd say the controversy was as big as when South Park or Eminem hit the scene. Every inch of these games were panned such as:

Killing police offers
A game about crime
Having sex with a hooker and killing them to get your money back.

However, when they found "Hot Coffee", that was almost the nail in what could have been Rockstar's coffin. Of course the PC community found it. When questioned by the ESRB, Rockstar stated that it was a mod and not included in the game. Hackers were able to find it in the PS2 version and the ESRB was pissed immediately slamming AO rating on the game.

Since no company sells AO games, all the games on the shelf had to be shipped back. There were numerous lawsuits from parents. I remember reverend radio covering this game. Rockstar was in hot****. Remember, TakeTwo was not the huge company they are today.

I 100% believe because of this that Manhunt 2 was rated AO by the ESRB. They were not putting up with Rockstar's ****. Some conspiracy theories believe that a lot of people lost faith in the ESRB. So Rockstar and the ESRB teamed up, Rockstar was to create Manhunt 2 with two versions. One with cut content and one without. The non-cut content would be rated AO and prove the ESRB was effective. Rockstar in return would get free publicity for Manhunt 2.

The Hot Coffee incident is probably the biggest controversy in all of video games.

[NotoriousWhiz]

I remember my parents watching my nephew (their grandson) playing GTA III with horrified faces.

"So, grandson, you're just gonna keep on hitting that dead cop with a bat?"

[ajax17]

never even heard of the haitian gang controversy

[RCslayer]

That single-player DLC is awesome hey....oh wait.