Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) was released on the 17th September 2013, on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The game has since generated a multitude of controversies, most relating to its violence and depiction of women. One of the most notorious examples of violence includes a mission where there is a scene of torture, and a man is interrogated and a few torture methods are shown including waterboarding. The depiction of women is something which goes on throughout the game and the story, but the argument is that it is not representative of society, but instead reflects the world of Grand Theft Auto V, and nothing more.
PEGI gave the game an 18-certificate and on the box, there are warnings for violence, bad language as well as a warning for online capibilities. Furthermore, due to the popularity it would seem that most people who purchase a copy of Grand Theft Auto V, or even illegally download a copy, know what they’re getting their hands on. Its violence, depiction of women, bad language, gore and online capibilities is what makes Grand Theft Auto well known to many, and it’s only living up to its predecessors, all of which have had some form of controversy.
There have been a few incidents in the United Kingdom, where GTA V has been named responsible by the media for certain crimes. One article had the headline: “Grand Theft Auto gamer was so upset when his brother killed his character in online session he drove 50 miles to threaten him with a baseball bat”. This specific incident involved two adult brothers playing a game of Grand Theft Auto V, and one of them got rather upset when his online character was killed by his brother.
More recently, towards the end of 2014, Rockstar Games added the first-person mode to the game and this sparked up additional controversy, as critics said that by adding first-person capibilities, it made everything much worse. In addition a hatchet weapon and a railgun were added, which went hand in hand of course… With even more violent mass-murdering capibilities possible.
The torture critism, as briefly mentioned earlier was thought to be quite significant by many. The player interrogates a man and uses equipment such as electricity, pliers and a wrench to extract information. Some argued that the script played it for laughs, which was wrong in the context of torture. However, the game appears to make makes it more acceptible through the addition of a monologue where a character explains the ineffectiveness of torture.
An important aspect to remember about GTA V however, is not necessarily all the incidents it has potentially caused, but it’s popularity. Grand Theft Auto V was the best-selling console video game of all of 2013, and it hit $1 billion in sales in just three days. I personally remember reading a few articles at the time about its success and how it had been sold out in shops all over the country. It broke multiple records including best-selling video game in 24 hours, best-selling action-adventure video game in 24 hours, highest grossing video game in 24 hours, fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion and many many more. In five days, it sold more than 2.25 million copies. As of 31st December 2014, the game has shipped 45 million copies to retailers worldwide, making it hugely successful.
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