Grand Theft Auto has always been a series that has worked around the controversy that surrounds it. However, one event in the franchise's history led to a massive backlash by families and even politicians. This controversy centered around a locked file in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox releases of the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. While the developers never intended for the files to be found, they were eventually brought to the public attention through the "Hot Coffee" mod.
The locked files were, essentially, a mini-game centered around San Andreas' relationship mechanic. The game allows players to slowly romance several woman and, eventually, go back to their houses. With the mod, players could use a number of button commands to perform different sexual positions. While it wasn't the first time the series had included sexual or graphic content, the fact that such an explicit and interactive mechanic was hidden within the game led to a massive public reaction.
Video games have a long history regarding their portrayal of violence and women, leading to some concerns regarding their effect on those who play them, particularly children and young adults. While many studies have shown that violence in games has little to no effect on the psyche of young children, that hasn't stopped many from complaining about explicit content.
GTA in particular has been accused of glorifying crime and violence and, despite its Mature rating indicating that it is not meant for children, the series has still been at the center of such controversies. In addition to concerns over violence, the "Hot Coffee" mod brought sexual content into the situation, leading to more critiques of both Rockstar and the ESRB. Part of the issue arose from Rockstar's original statement that the game did not have the files locked and that they were originally removed, though new evidence proved that this was not the case.
Eventually, government officials became involved, including then-U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton. Many called for the game to receive the highest possible rating (Adults Only, which most retailers will not carry), which led to an unforeseen circumstance when an 85-year old woman filed a class-action lawsuit against Rockstar and producer Take-Two Interactive. The lawsuit claimed the companies were guilty of deception, false advertising and fraud based on the change in rating.
This all also took place at a time when Take-Two's owners were already under investigation for inside trading. The company's shareholders would eventually organize a massive buyout of the majority shares and elect a new CEO as a result. The game's American sales suffered massively, and it was even banned in Australia. Europe, meanwhile, did not change much as the game was already listed as an 18+, which was the highest rating available.
In 2005, U.S. Senators Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh brought forwards new legislation which called for a federal mandate of the ESRB's rating system. While rating systems had always been enforced, it would now be up to the government to protect children from more risky content. There was also a wave of new protests towards other games, especially Bully, also from Rockstar. Many parents were concerned the game would make kids want to become bullies themselves and lumped the title into the San Andreas controversy. The companies were eventually ordered by court mandate to display the ESRB rating game boxes and mention content related to the rating in any advertising for the game.
In the end, Rockstar re-released GTA: San Andreas with the content at the center of the controversy removed, leading the ESRB to drop the game back to Mature. The series managed to keep the game in circulation and even saw renewed interest due to the controversy. The developers even made a subtle dig at Clinton in GTA IV. The Statue of Happiness, the game's version of the Statue of Liberty, has her likeness and is shown holding a cup of coffee. The mod still exists and has been recreated for the PC version, as well as on Red Dead Redemption 2, but it no longer uses content locked in the actual game's files.
While it is unlikely that there will be any mention of the situation in the remaster of the game, the "Hot Coffee" mod controversy played an important part in gaming history. The situation resulted in many changes to the American and Australian video game rating systems and brought more attention from outside groups into the effects of video games. Thankfully for fans, though, despite all the negative attention, this did not put a premature end to Rockstar or the Grand Theft Auto series, both of which have seen plenty of success and become pillars of the video game industry.