Following requests from LGBTQ+ audiences, Rockstar Games appears to have removed a handful of jokes regarding transgender individuals from its latest release of Grand Theft Auto V.
Grand Theft Auto V has long been the subject of controversy for everything from a prolonged torture sequence to GTA's long and troubled history with female characters, but according to a report by Video Games Chronicle, the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S edition appears to finally be addressing one of the most vocal critiques of the game: its transphobic comedy. While the changes in the game aren't dramatic, they seem to be a concerted effort by Rockstar to right what many fans have perceived to be a troubling instance of bigotry in the title.
The most noticeable change comes outside of Cockatoos, a nightclub that played host to a variety of crossdressers and transgender women in the game's original release. These "drag queen" characters are no longer present in the updated edition, and disparaging lines from the player characters and NPCs have also been removed. The models can still be viewed in the game's Director Mode, a free play option that allows players to play as NPC characters, but their dialogue is still inaccessible.
In addition to that notable alteration, there's a much smaller one that only the most eagle-eyed players will even notice. An arcade in GTA Online previously featured a hanging action figure called "Captain Spacetoy Interstellar Transgender." That toy has been replaced with a similar model called "Captain Spacetoy Spacetramp." Instead of a banner advertising "interchangeable genitalia," the new figure proudly announces a "posable vomit direction."
The removal of transphobic comedy from the game follows a public open letter to Rockstar from an organization of LGBTQ+ game developers called Out Making Games, who said in September that the studio had a "social responsibility" to their audience to avoid painting marginalized communities in a negative light. Other companies have come under fire for transphobic actions recently, including Disney's financial support of the anti-LGBTQ+ "Don't Say Gay" bill in Florida and Marvel Comics' regular sidelining of its LGBTQ+ characters (Jessie Drake, the comic company's first openly transgender hero, has appeared in exactly three issues over more than twenty years). Rockstar Games has not publicly commented on whether any of these factors influenced their decision to alter and remove certain jokes in Grand Theft Auto V.
The changes to GTA V can be seen in its latest release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The game is also available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.
Source: Video Games Chronicle