Rockstar and controversies are two things that can’t be separated. These words have raised a question in my mind: why all of the games in the GTA series have always involved controversies? In the early 2000s, GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas were always associated with mass shootings. The sexual content in GTA San Andreas was also a big controversy in 2005-2009. GTA 4 was criticized by the Mayor of New York City, Mayor Bloomberg, who told the public that GTA 4 doesn’t give a fair representation of the city in real life.

The DLC is also full of controversies, especially in a mission titled “Politics”, which shows a male genital. GTA 5 is also full of controversies, which is why it’s’ banned in several countries as it is considered too violent.

Even the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition, a remaster of the classic titles that was supposed to solve all the controversies that occured years prior, is still full of controversies. The only difference is that the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition doesn’t pose any controversy against politicians, but it betrayed the loyal fans who’ve always been eagerly waiting for every GTA game release.

With that in mind, I began to seek the answer to the question: why all of the titles in the GTA series are always surrounded by controversies. I started to scour GTA forums, read old articles that are only accessible via the Wayback Machine, reread the Rockstar and GTA Wikipedia pages, yet I didn’t manage to find an answer.

That was until I found this book: Grand Thieves & Tomb Raiders How British Video Games Conquered The World by Magnus Anderson and Rebecca Levene. The perfect book for someone like me, a nerd, who doesn’t only play video games, but also has a strong interest in finding out everything about the process behind the scene.

A Story That Inspires Rockstar

The book doesn’t only cover the process, but also the journey of the developers in making and marketing the games. Magnus Anderson and Rebecca Levene tell the story of Rockstar’s journey from the early days of developing GTA 1. The devs here are Rockstar North, the studio that developed GTA, formerly known as DMA Design.

Before DMA Design released a game titled Race N Chase, which was later renamed Grand Theft Auto, there’s a quite controversial game called Carmageddon. Carmageddon is a racing game, yet it also requires the player to do other things for extra credits. For example, hitting pedestrians, animals, and the opponents’ cars.

Long story short, the game was banned by the authorities in the UK and had to be reviewed as it was deemed to feature too much violence and gore.

The game passed the review and was allowed to reach the market. Therefore, Carmageddon gained lots of attention from the media at the time. Daily Mail once featured this game in an article titled: Sickest Video Game Will Be In Shops By Christmas. The Evening Standards wrote the headline The Vicious Games Children Play, among other articles.

Initially, these headlines were expected to ruin Carmageddon’s reputation and sales. However, after being reviewed by several gaming media, Carmageddon received lots of praise. Carmageddon managed to sell 2 million copies and top the chart in the UK.

Carmageddon proved that quality isn’t the only factor to make a video game successful, but attention from the media and public is also needed to boost the sales of the game. DMA Design believed that Grand Theft Auto, the game that they were developing back then was a great game, and they used the same strategy that had been proven successful for Carmageddon. The difference is that Carmageddon gained public attention by accident, whereas Grand Theft Auto intentionally used a similar way to gain popularity, something that had never been done by other publishers.

Manufacturization of Controversies

At the time BMG Interactive (DMA Design’s Publisher), decided to recruit Max Clifford, who’s one of the most influential publicists/journalists in the UK. Clifford often promoted obscure stories into headlines in major media like The Sun. One of the most infamous stories that Clifford promoted was the rumor of an affair between David Beckham and his personal assistant, Rebecca Loos, back in 2004.

Max Clifford then took care of all the things needed to make Grand Theft Auto headline-worthy. Before its slated release in May 1997, GTA received the attention of the British parliament. As a matter of fact, before the release, one member of the parliament, Lord Gordon Campbell asked: “Is it true, as reported, that that game includes theft of cars, hit-and-run accidents, and being chased by the police, and that there will be nothing to stop children from buying it?”

The media began to discuss the issue. Daily Mail wrote the headline: Criminal Computer Game That Glorifies Hit And Run Thugs. News of The World wrote in its headline: Ban Criminal Video Game, among others.

While the developers of Carmageddon admitted their frustration when the media blew up the story, DMA Design was pleased and praised Max Clifford as a genius. Without Max Clifford, none of this would have happened. All of the negative news raised by major media in the UK were all part of DMA Design’s marketing strategy. The same strategy that they used for subsequent releases. And in the end, GTA became the most successful entertainment product in history. And thus, I found the answer to why Rockstar and controversies have always been inseparable.

But then, another question arises: Was the infamous GTA San Andreas' Hot Coffee scandal a manufactured controversy pulled off by Rockstar? It seems like only Rockstar knows the real answer to this question.

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