You might have heard over the last couple of weeks that two Australian retailers have banned Grand Theft Auto 5 from sale in any of their outlets across the country because the title contains controversial content. This doesn’t sit well with Take-Two Interactive, the parent publisher of Grand Theft Auto. Take-Two president Karl Slatoff spoke out against this decision today, saying that it “flies in the face of everything that free society’s based on.”
Slatoff made these comments during his talk at the BMO Capital Markets Technology and Digital Media Conference. He acknowledged that while people can take issue with the game’s content, which can often been seedy and gritty, it’s not like people are being forced to purchase this game. “It’s one thing for a person to not want to buy a piece of content,” he says, “which is completely understandable.”
The decision of the Australian retailers, Kmart and Target, is not going affect the title’s financial performance. There are many other places from where people can purchase the game, not to mention the online stores on their respective gaming platforms.
Slatoff believes its wrong for a person or a group of people to make that decision for millions of people, that a game’s content is unsuitable. “We have 34 million people who have bought GTA 5,” he says, “if these folks had their way, none of those people would be able to buy Grand Theft Auto.”
So far the retailers haven’t said if they are going to reconsider their decision. Grand Theft Auto titles have almost always have controversial content but that hasn’t stopped the franchise from becoming one of the most lucrative and marketable gaming franchises in the market.
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