LOS ANGELES, CA – The city of Los Angeles has filed suit against Take-Two Interactive Software, the makers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, for concealing sexually explicit material in the game. Citing that concealment as a deceptive business practice, the city is now seeking for the company to forfeit a portion of its profits from the game.Shares of Take-Two dropped nearly 14% Friday, losing $2.34 on the way to a closing price of $14.60 – down a little more than half of its high in June 2005 of $29.60 per share.
GTA: San Andreas was originally released in 2004, and the hidden sexual content was not publicized until July 2005, when codes for unlocking the content were published on the Web.
Take-Two initially claimed that hackers had inserted the content into the game, but later conceded that the “Hot Coffee” mini-game was indeed contained in the game’s original code.
The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) changed the rating of the game from “Mature” to the more restrictive “Adults Only,” a change which effectively bans the game from most retail outlets, as most stores do not carry games rated Adults Only.
The change in rating came long after GTA: San Andreas originally hit shelves, however, and now the L.A. City Attorney’s office thinks Take-Two should cough up some of the money they earned from sales of the controversial title.
“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,” said L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. “Businesses have an obligation to truthfully disclose the content of their products, whether in the food we eat or the entertainment we consume.”
The lawsuit is just the latest in a series of problems for Take-Two, which settled in July with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over charges related to fraudulent accounting practices.
Further contributing to Take-Two’s declining stock value are negative reviews from industry analysts, like Gary Cooper of Bank of America, who downgraded the stock Friday citing a variety of risk factors including the departure of significant employees, delays in releasing new game titles, falling earnings, over valuation and another possible SEC investigation.
