Kevin Slatoff, the chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive, has condemned the decision made by two Australian retailers to remove GTV V from sale.
The Aussie iterations of Kmart and Target removed the game from shelves following a consumer protest against the game’s violent content.
Slatoff, whose company was in charge of the distributing for developer Rockstar, hit out at the perceived censorship claiming it’s up to consumers to decided whether or not they want to buy the game.
He told a digital media conference: “It’s one thing for someone to not want to buy a piece of content, which is completely understandable and that’s really the solution.
“If you don’t like it and it’s offensive to you, then you don’t buy it. But for a person or a group of people to try to make that decision for millions of people
“We have 34 million people who bought Grand Theft Auto, and if these folks had their way, none of those people would be able to buy Grand Theft Auto. And that really just flies in the face of everything that free society is based on. It’s the freedom of expression, and to try to squelch that is a dangerous and slippery slope to go down.”
GTA III was banned in Australia before a censored version found its way onto shelves eventually. Rockstar was also forced to release a special version of GTA IV in the country in order to comply with the classifications system.
Read more: GTA V cheats, easter eggs and secrets
Via: GamesIndustry.biz
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
