GTA: Vice City Lawsuit Moving to Federal Court
- January 02, 2004 13:59 PM PST
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Haitian communities decry the game for its wanton implications of genocide.
Haitians, the New York Mayor, and the New York Post are all peeved with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. According to the suit, they claim that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, instructs players to "kill the Haitians" and awarding points for each kill. Although developer Rockstar Games has agreed to remove the offensive line from future versions, Haitian organizations, led by the Haitian-American Coalition of Palm Beach County, are dissatisfied, asking for more than $15,000 in damages and for the game's removal from store shelves.The suit was filed December 23 in state circuit court in Palm Beach County. Attorneys for Rockstar Games requested to move the case to federal court and that motion was granted on December 30. No hearing dates have been set as of yet.
Defendants in the suit include Rockstar Games, its parent company Take-Two Interactive Software, Sony Computer Entertainment, Microsoft, and retailers Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy.
Rather than suing for the game's over-the-top violence, choosing to focus on the game's supposedly genocidal tone may provide a weak case for the plaintiffs, as the infamous "kill the Haitians" dialogue was an order to wipe out the Haitian mafia and not to kill Haitians in general, as the suit alleges.
