Grand Theft Auto isn’t just a game series; it’s been a huge cultural sensation since it started in 1997. Rokcstar’s GTA is always famous for pushing limits and making headlines, often for controversial reasons. But why is it so controversial, and how does it keep getting attention? Here are 10 GTA game controversies you need to know.
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1. The Infamous “Hot Coffee” Mod
If you were a fan of GTA in 2004, you would probably remember the “Hot Coffee” scandal. This hidden minigame in GTA: San Andreas allowed players to control the main character, CJ, during sexual encounters with his in-game girlfriends. While the content was not accessible through normal gameplay, hackers found it buried in the game’s code.
The fallout from this scandal was massive. The ESRB changed the game’s rating from Mature to Adults Only, forcing Rockstar to recall and reissue the game without the hidden content. Take-Two faced a more than $20 million class-action lawsuit, with affected customers who bought the game before its re-rating being entitled to $35 each. Interestingly, this code ‘accidentally’ appeared again in the 2021 Definitive Edition release of San Andreas.
2. Jack Thompson’s Legal Crusade
Attorney Jack Thompson perhaps became the most notorious critic of the GTA series, filing multiple lawsuits against Rockstar and Take-Two. His legal campaign began in 2003, when he attempted to represent a teenage murderer, claiming the boy’s many hours playing GTA III had left him obsessed with killing. Thompson also tried to represent Devin Moore, who killed three police officers and claimed GTA games made him do it. The Florida Bar eventually disbarred Thompson in 2007 for misconduct.
If you played GTA IV back then, you might have realized the Final Interview mission, where Niko is told to kill a lawyer. Some think the lawyer is based on Jack Thompson. The character even says Thompson’s quote: “Guns don’t kill people, video games do.” Thompson threatened to ban the game but didn’t follow through.
3. Lindsay Lohan’s Failed Lawsuit
In GTA V, there’s a character named Lacey Jonas, an actress who lives with an eating disorder. Lindsay Lohan thought the character looked too much like her, especially because of a promo image showing Jonas in a bikini making a peace sign, similar to one of Lohan’s own photos.
She sued Rockstar, but the court dismissed the case because Rockstar didn’t actually use her name, portrait, or picture. Another TV star, Karen Gravano from “Mob Wives,” also tried to sue for a similar reason, but her case was dismissed too.
4. Deliberate Controversial Marketing
You might be surprised to learn that the very first GTA game was deliberately marketed to cause controversy. The developers hired British publicist Max Clifford, who actually planted stories in British magazines, highlighting the game’s violent content, including hit-and-runs and assaults.
This strategy worked well. Even before the first GTA game came out, the British parliament held hearings about video game violence. This gave GTA a lot of free attention and even helped the game sell over three million copies. From then on, using controversy to get noticed became a key part of the series’ success.
5. Graphic Torture Mission in GTA V
GTA V pushed boundaries further with its infamous torture mission, “By the Book.” Unlike most violence in the series, which is optional, this mission forces you to torture a character to advance the story. You must use tools like car batteries, pliers for pulling teeth, and waterboarding techniques in graphic detail.
Many critics saw this as crossing a line. Keith Best from Freedom from Torture said Rockstar had “crossed a line by effectively forcing people to take on the role of a torturer.” This required participation in torture made many players uncomfortable and sparked renewed debate about violence in video games.
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6. Racial Controversy in Vice City
Number six in the list of GTA game controversies comes from GTA: Vice City. This series faced significant backlash for a mission where players had to start a gang war between Cuban and Haitian groups. In early versions of the game, players were even told to kill members of one group. America’s Haitian community organized widespread protests against the game. In response, Rockstar agreed to remove references to Haitians and replace them with the more generic term “gangsters” in later versions of the game.
7. Male Nudity in “The Lost and Damned”
The Grand Theft Auto IV expansion, called “The Lost and Damned,” caused controversy by featuring explicit male frontal nudity. While the series had long included sexual content, this was the first time it had shown full male nudity, causing a stir among gaming publications.
Common Sense Media called the expansion “even more controversial than its predecessors due to the male nudity,” highlighting how even in a series known for pushing limits, this content stood out. The scene even featured Tom Stubbs stretching his groin toward the camera, which many felt was done on purpose to shock people.
8. Daz Dillinger’s Music Copyright Claims
Another artist who makes GTA game controversies is rapper Daz Dillinger. He claimed Rockstar used his songs “C-Walk” and “Nothin’ But the Cavi Hit” in GTA V after he rejected their offer of approximately $4,271 for the rights, which he considered “offensively low.” According to Dillinger, when he declined, Rockstar used the songs anyway.
Dillinger sent Rockstar a cease and desist letter, demanding they recall and destroy all unsold copies of the game (approximately 15 million at that time) or pay him what he considered fair compensation. Rockstar never issued a public response and did not recall the game.
9. The New Hyde Park Crime Spree
In 2008, a group of teenagers allegedly influenced by GTA went on what police called “a spree of violence, mischief, and damage” in New York. They first attacked and robbed a man outside a supermarket, knocking out his teeth. Then they broke into a shed, stole weapons including crowbars, and used them to damage vehicles. Six teenagers were arrested and charged with robbery, saying they got the idea from characters in Grand Theft Auto. This incident gave critics more reason to argue that violent video games might lead to real-world violence.
10. Drug Dealing in Chinatown Wars
GTA: Chinatown Wars, released in 2009, included a detailed drug-dealing minigame. While past games had similar content, this one went further. Darren Gold of the British nonprofit Drugsline criticized the game, saying: “Anything using drug-dealing as entertainment is sending out the wrong message. Glamorization doesn’t help our work trying to educate kids of the dangers of substance misuse.”
Despite (or perhaps because of) these GTA game controversies, the series continues to break sales records with each new release. The franchise has sold over hundreds of millions of copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful gaming franchises of all time. Whether you love the series or hate it, there’s no denying that Grand Theft Auto has forever changed how we talk about games and their impact on society. It will be interesting to see what controversies may emerge when GTA 6 is released in Fall 2025.
