The city says the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game generated sales of over $600 million and wants Take-Two Interactive and its subsidiary, Rockstar Games, which produced and developed the game, to disgorge a portion of their profits.

Murder and Sex

GTA, released in the last quarter of 2004, has players performing a variety of criminal acts. These include murder, pimping, home robbery, tagging, and drug-dealing. Unknown to the industry-rating board and to consumers at the time, the game also had a sexual minigame embedded in it.

By hiding the adult material, Take-Two Interactive was able to obtain an M rating for GTA, and the game went on to become a best-seller.

When the U.S. industry board that rates video games became aware of the explicit content, the game was given an Adults Only (AO, 18+) rating. This meant that most retailers stopped carrying the game, which led to sales of the game falling.

However, the rerating only took place in July 2005 after 12 million units of the game had been sold, generating $600 million in retail sales for the companies. In California alone, the City Attorney's Office estimates, more than 200,000 units worth $10 million have been sold.

Civil Penalty

The suit, filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Take-Two and Rockstar violated the State of California's business and professions code by making untrue or misleading statements in marketing the game and that the companies engaged in unfair competition through those actions. Each violation carries a maximum civil penalty of $2,500.

"Failure to disclose pornographic content is a violation of the State's fair business practices law," said Delgadillo in a statement.

"Greed and deception are part of the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' story -- and in that respect its publishers are not much different from the characters in their story," Delgadillo's statement said. "Businesses have an obligation to truthfully disclose the content of their products -- whether in the food we eat or the entertainment we consume."

The action is part of the wider probe of video-game marketing undertaken by the Special Litigation division of the City Attorney's Criminal and Special Litigation Branch.

Publisher Responsible

"The suit is not likely to change the direction of the gaming industry," said Forrester Research principal analyst Paul Jackson. "Rockstar has had a lot of success in creating violent games and they will carry on doing this."

Jackson said that what this suit will do is make publishers realize that they are responsible for the content of games and will ensure that legal departments carry out due diligence before releasing games. "The fact that Take-Two withdrew the game shows that they accepted responsibility," he said.

"Grand Theft Auto achieved good sales before the issue of the rating was raised. In the UK, the game had an 18+ rating from the start and it was not sold in supermarkets. Nonetheless, sales of the game were extremely good."