Grand Theft Auto is condemned in the House Of Lords
GAME GRAND THEFT AUTO / RELEASED 1997 / FORMAT PS1
69 Grand Theft Auto was declared a public menace before the series even began, and that’s just how its creators planned it. The marketing team at BMG Interactive hired Max Clifford, the notorious publicist later found guilty of indecent assault, who at the time was famous for feeding stories to the UK tabloid press.
The decision was unconventional for a games company, and worried the owner of GTA’s developer, David Jones, but future Rockstar head Sam Houser was keen to make a splash and show that Grand Theft Auto was no child’s toy.
Clifford whispered in the ear of the elite, and within three months Grand Theft Auto had infiltrated the wood-paneled
walls of the British establishment. On 20 May 1997 a former Scottish Secretary spoke in the House Of Lords about a shocking new game made in his country that featured hit-andruns and police chases. “There would be nothing to stop children from buying it,” said Lord Campbell of Croy. “We simply cannot allow children and young people to be given the idea that car crime or joyriding is in any way an acceptable or an enjoyable thing to do.” He called on the BBFC to look into whether GTA should be legal to release.
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After that, the free promotion rolled in. The Daily Mail claimed GTA would include “illegal alien assassination”; the Scottish Motor Trade Association said the game would “make children think it is okay to rob cars and kill.” BMG’s marketers, meanwhile, pulled clips from the House Of Lords debate for its radio ad campaign, capitalising on the image of GTA as something illicit, outrageous, and therefore essential.
The BBFC ultimately ruled that although GTA’s subject matter was unprecedented, it wouldn’t be banned. And ironically, the concern over members of the public getting their hands on the game ensured that they did, to the tune of 500,000 copies sold. GTA cost a million pounds to make, and had soon made £25 million, ensuring a sequel. Though GTA’s notoriety would cause more problems later, that controversy was also the making of the series.
“We simply cannot allow children to be given the idea that car crime is acceptable.”