GTA 5 Ban by Australian Retailer

Well, Australia again shows itself as a bunch of craziness.

[UPDATE] Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has released a statement regarding GTA V's ban from Target Australia. You can see his full statement below.

"We are disappointed that an Australian retailer has chosen no longer to sell Grand Theft Auto V--a title that has won extraordinary critical acclaim and has been enjoyed by tens of millions of consumers around the world. Grand Theft Auto V explores mature themes and content similar to those found in many other popular and groundbreaking entertainment properties. Interactive entertainment is today's most compelling art form and shares the same creative freedom as books, television, and movies. I stand behind our products, the people who create them, and the consumers who play them."

The original story is below.

Target Australia announced Wednesday that it will stop selling Grand Theft Auto V in its stores due to feedback from consumers about the game's "depictions of violence against women."

In a public statement, Target corporate affairs manager Jim Cooper said the company reached the decision following "extensive community and customer concern about the game."

Cooper said Target Australia has been in communication with "many" customers in recent days about GTA V's content. "There is a significant level of concern about the game's content," he said.

At the same time, Cooper said shoppers have spoken out to say Target Australia should continue to sell the game. "We respect their perspective on the issue," Cooper said. "However, we feel the decision to stop selling GTA V is in line with the majority view of our customers."

GTA V carries an R18 rating in Australia. Other R-rated DVDs and games will continue to be sold at Target Australia. Cooper explained why GTA V is being singled out with the following statement:

"While these products often contain imagery that some customers find offensive, in the vast majority of cases, we believe they are appropriate products for us to sell to adult customers," he said. "However, in the case of GTA V, we have listened to the strong feedback from customers that this is not a product they want us to sell."

Cooper did not call out any specific GTA V scenes that spurred his company to remove the game from sale in the country. The game has been available for purchase in Australia since September 2013, though a new version of the game for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 was released less than a month ago.

We've followed up with Target's North American team to see if this decision will impact the game's availability in the United States.

Today's decision comes after an Australian Change.org petition called on Target to block GTA V from sale in Australia, citing concerns about the game's violence.

"Please Target, we appeal to you as women survivors of violence, including women who experienced violence in the sex industry, to immediately withdraw Grand Theft Auto V from sale," reads a line from the campaign, which has attracted more than 40,000 signatures to date.

For now, the GTA V ban in Australia is limited to Target Australia. We have reached out to GTA V parent publisher Take-Two Interactive for comment.

Concerns regarding the violent nature of Grand Theft Auto games are nothing new. Most recently, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick responded to a mainstream media reporter who asked if it was true that GTA V players can have sex with a prostitute and then kill her.

Zelnick's response was that GTA V is a work of art--and it may not always be pretty. "This is a criminal setting; it's a gritty underworld; it is art," he said. "And I embrace that art. And it's beautiful art. But it is gritty."

So what do you guys think? my response is the same as Zelnicks and this is just incredible nonsense, and this "violence against women" is just stupid, there are no more violence against women then their is against animals or any other human race or gender on the planet.

UPDATE: Another retailer pulls GTA V

Kmart stores in Australia will no longer be selling Grand Theft Auto V, the retailer has confirmed in a statement sent to Kotaku Australia.

GameSpot reached out to Kmart for comment, and a spokesperson confirmed, "Following a significant review of all content in Grand Theft Auto Games Kmart has made the decision to remove this product immediately. Kmart apologises for not being closer to the content of this game."

The news follows on from yesterday's announcement that Grand Theft Auto V would be pulled from sale at Target stores across Australia due to feedback from consumers concerned about the game's "depictions of violence against women." Both Target and Kmart are owned by retail group Wesfarmers.

Grand Theft Auto V is rated R18+ in Australia, which is the highest possible classification rating for a video game. It was released in September last year, and the new version for Xbox One and PlayStation 4launched last month. In response to Target Australia pulling the game from sale, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick responded with the following public statement:

"We are disappointed that an Australian retailer has chosen no longer to sell Grand Theft Auto V--a title that has won extraordinary critical acclaim and has been enjoyed by tens of millions of consumers around the world. Grand Theft Auto V explores mature themes and content similar to those found in many other popular and groundbreaking entertainment properties. Interactive entertainment is today's most compelling art form and shares the same creative freedom as books, television, and movies. I stand behind our products, the people who create them, and the consumers who play them."

It's unrestrained madness at this point

If it's what the majority of customers want, then I guess they should comply, shouldn't they? Target is a business after all...

I seriously doubt that a majority of customers went to target and demanded GTA V stop being sold.

Its just Target either having a meltdown or doing a PR stunt.

No matter, Australians can always import banned games but it's gonna cost them more money to do so.

Or maybe the majority of people buying at Target are simply not people who buy videogames and the loss of any revenue as a result of not selling GTA V is simply negligible when compared to the risk of losing customers.

If you can get it from another retailer ----> screw Target.

Yeah, pretty much. If Target wants to lose out on money from a well-selling video game, then that's their prerogative.

They wont lose out on much at all. Because nobody buys games from Target.

Did you expect anything less from Australia at this point? Although, judging from the article's wording, it sounds like one hell of a PR stunt.

Us Australians are puzzled by this as well.

In any case, it's not a "ban", in the traditional sense. One family-oriented store is simply refusing to sell the game.

Big whoop.

LMAO... Target. No wonder nobody here in Aus shops there anymore... just mums and grandmas. Probably where all the "complaints" came from... people who have no idea.

Hopefully other retailers aren't so stupid.

Lol, Target is never my first choice anyway.

Actually, it's usually cheaper to import games here (only because our game prices are still kinda high).

Also: "However, we feel the decision to stop selling GTA V is in line with the majority view of our customers"

Hahahahahaha...

While it is annoying it will still be sold at EB Games whatever other game stores exist over here. Then there's the other stores not under the same company as Target and K Mart.

So it's not the end of the world, just really annoying.

Nowadays most of the games contains violence.. i dont see any violence against women in Gta 5 game..

If so, australians can only able to play mario and dangerous dave... =D .

I didn't know that. Interesting to know that it's cheaper to import in Australia.

A lot of big company releases on console (not sure about other formats) will often cost around $89.95 - $99.95. And even with price drops and re-releases we still usually get a better deal with imports.

So yeah, it's often cheaper.

Isn't there a scene where the meth guy beats the crap outta his girlfriend? I could be wrong.

If that many people don't want the game in target, well target is gonna listen.

I remember when they were gonna take Manhunt off the shelves here in the U.S., typical rock star!

@Jacanuk: it's not crazy australians, it's crazy feminists. Because someone feels offended they feel their right is not to deal with this in their life at all. So therefore their needs are more important than ours. Just so stupid

You are right its the crazy feminists but its also the "me me me" generation who now have grown up and gotten kids who are even worse than their parents in thinking the world is made just for them not the other way around.

Oh i totally agree. People sow pillows under the arms of children and all of them are special little snowflakes. They are fucking idiots because their feelings are hurt

Well, I think it's their right to not shop at a store that sells content that they find objectionable. And it's their right to voice their complaints to the company.

You can take the stance that this is a silly thing to be offended about in the first place, but if you're gonna talk about rights then it is absolutely their right to complain about it. At the end of the day, Target was free to just ignore the complaints.

The more I think of this, the more it makes me mad... It's just the usual backwards frame of mind that still exists here in this country. Look how long it took us to get an R-rating for goodness sake, and still we have this.

People have the right to an opinion, but it's just ridiculous that Target/Kmart have knee-jerk reacted this way. I'll definitely never shop at either again... and I hope that other Aussie gamers (or anyone who thinks that as an adult, we should be able to decide if we can purchase content like this - free country after all), do the same to send a message.

Let's just hope that these vocal misinformed groups don't start bullying other shops like EB, JB Hi FI or Dick Smith here in Aus. Then I'll really be pissed.

They're the ones losing profits, so they're the idiots for listening to some feminists who have no braincells.

I highly doubt Target did any sort of comprehensive polling. It's more likely the majority of target customers don't even know a thing about GTA. This is another example of the power of social media to organize people across distances and amplify their voices. We're not used to it, and when we see this wave of humanity coming at us, we tend to mistake it for the majority when really it is just a very loud handful of people.

Okay...that has nothing to do with my point. If them refusing to sell the game is a bad business decision, then that's their problem.

Regardless, my point still stands. I can understand thinking that it's a stupid thing to be offended about in the first place. Okay, fine, whatever. Maybe someone else might feel inclined to argue against that, but not me because I don't feel I'm the arbiter of what is worth getting upset about. If it's stupid to be upset about GTA V's violence, or if it's stupid to be upset at Target for carrying GTA V, then fine. I'm not gonna argue with your opinion on that.

However, here's the thing I don't get: once we establish that people ARE offended by it, then how can we be upset at them for stating how they feel? People act like the complainers are ruining things for everyone else and they should just shut up and not complain, but how does that work exactly? The complainers don't care that the removal of games from the store might piss people off, any more than Rockstar should be concerned that their games might piss people off. The overwhelming sentiment is that (as long as it's not detrimental to their interests) Rockstar should just make the games they want to make and stores should stock the merchandise that they want to stock. So, why should the people who find GTA V offensive somehow hold their tongues when they see something that offends them? You can't really champion artistic freedom and the ability of artists to say what they want and have it made available for the public, and then immediately say that anyone who doesn't like it should just stfu. They're BOTH an expression of what one believes, and having the freedom to make the game that you want necessarily entails that it's okay for consumers to complain about it and it's okay for retailers to pull it from their store shelves.

This is one of the reasons I hate living in Australia, otherwise it's the greatest place in the world imo. We really need to relax on our gaming laws.

@MrGeezer: You do know that these feminists are the same ones that want to ban games with this content. It's total bs. They can just not buy the game or avoid the store. Jeez. That the store is actually listening to them is frightening

If people aren't offended by it, the game is not doing something right. These feminists won't even buy anything from their store. I would have just told them to **** off. Freedom of speech.

"So, why should the people who find GTA V offensive somehow hold their tongues when they see something that offends them?"

Because you get offended you should have a right to dictate what others can do? So let's say if i am against gay marriage. I am offended that these people are together and because of that i can tell them they don't have the right to get married. If they can do this, it sends them the message it's alright of them to do this

Have a problem? Then speak up. For every person who is offended by GTA V and complains to Target about it, there should be at least one person who WANTS GTA V in Target. So...nothing stopping them from saying "I'm a long-time Target customer but now I'm boycotting your store until you bring back GTA V".

See, there's actually a thread on this page about petitioning Target to reverse the ban on GTA. How is that fundamentally any different than a Target customer asking Target to ban GTA? That's how you do it. If people don't want GTA V in Target, then that ABSOLUTELY justifies them telling Target they they don't want GTA V in Target. However, if it's fair for people to say that they don't want GTA V in Target, then it's totally fair for people to petition Target to bring GTA V back. HOWEVER...if you complain to Target in the hopes of your complaints bringing GTA V back, then you've just validated the very complaints that led to GTA V getting "banned" in the first place.

"Because you get offended you should have a right to dictate what others can do? So let's say if i am against gay marriage. I am offended that these people are together and because of that i can tell them they don't have the right to get married. If they can do this, it sends them the message it's alright of them to do this"

People who got offended aren't in charge here. TARGET is in charge here and they had every right to avoid every single complaint against GTA V and keep it on store shelves. This isn't people voting on a law. Once a law passes, violating it is ILLEGAL. There is no law stating that Target can't sell GTA V. They're free to sell it regardless of how many people don't want it there, or refuse to sell it regardless of how many people DO want it there. It's pretty stupid to compare a law (which prohibits companies from doing what they want) to a voluntary ban (which is evidence of a company doing EXACTLY what it wants).

One more thing...

"If people aren't offended by it, the game is not doing something right."

Well, that's neither here no there. Some people have labelled me as a "shock artist" (though I don't agree) and a few of my photographs have actually made some people legitimately upset. I don't revel in that fact since that's not exactly my goal, but the point remains. I do what I want and at times that has offended the shit out of people. I have no problem with that. However, if I am gonna make art that I know has a chance of offending some people, what I do NOT do is tell them to shut the **** up when they inevitably are offended. Just as people "know what they're in for when they see the M label", crteators of content also know what they're in for when they make games that have M-rated content. Being a content creator carries great power, and with great power comes great responsibility. One of the first things you're responsibile for is owning up to what to do. Want to release your violent and controversial piece of art? More power to you, do what you want. But the freedom and power to do that means that you don't get to bitch and moan about people finding it offensive. You knew that was gonna happen when you made the damn thing, and you made it anyway knowing the likely outcome. And that's fine and well. But even if the INTENT wasn't to offend people, you knew that it was GOING to offend people and you released it anyway. At that point, you're on really shaky ground if you want to play the victim and take the "free speech" tactic once people actually do get offended.

I don't doubt most of the customers who complained know nothing about GTA. I also think people only need a tiny shred of information to start complaining. I'd like to stick to the information at hand, regardless of the source providing it. That doesn't mean I'm not going to be critical or wary, but people have a tendency to see bad intent and conspiracies everywhere when information is limited. While I'm not going to dismiss any claims that this might be a PR stunt, I do want to make sure all sides are considered. I've regularly seen people exaggerate their suspicions and claim that stuff like this is all part of a deliberate campaign to demonize videogames. In this case I personally don't really care what's the case, but if there's anything I can do against the tendency of people to see speculation as truth, because people share their suspicions, then I won't hesitate to offer at least a tiny bit of nuance.

And the problem with social media is that you can't determine whether you're dealing with a majority or a minority. Sure, it might be a tiny minority in the media complaining that the violence in GTA is a danger to society, but if a large mass of ignorant people gets wind of it and starts complaining when they see their retailer selling the game, then I guess there's little else for that retailer to do than give in. Or it's a PR stunt. Anyway, in the end it doesn't really matter, I guess. You can't blame a business for listening to its customers and you can't blame a business for using a relatively unimportant product to get some attention.

You do know people did say that, but they still decided to take them down right?

I didn't talk about laws, i talk about how someone is offended and they make the rules. Just look at big artists, there is always someone who is offended. Just because someone is offended makes them superior to our opinion. If that happened here, then yeah i would boycott the store and tell them they would no longer get my money. They're idiots for listening to people who have no interests in games. That's just like PETA crying over animals in games...

This really doesn't seem justified. In no way does the game reward you or really give you incentive to kill specifically women or specifically men. None of these men are sexist mass murderers, and at no time will it prompt you to 'kill this woman because she is a woman" There really is minimal difference between the women and the men in GTA. Both die and both perform basically the same tasks. In fact, more men are killed in the main story of GTA than men. I guess these Australians just watched some sort of montage of a man killing only women and immediately jumped in to action. This really is a stupid and unjustified ban

Yeah agreed mate. The problem is that all the people who make the big decisions (ie. ratings board etc) are from an older generation that doesn't understand the medium at all.

Hopefully this will change as time goes on.

Well boo hoo. Not everyone gets their way. People who don't want the game in the store can complain to have it removed, people who do want the game in the store can complain to have it put back in. But you can't have it both ways since those positions are polar opposites, and at the end of the day it's Target's business and they have the right to do what they feel is in their best interests.

And no, people who are offended are not "making the rules". They're not forcing Target to pull the game from store shelves, they're not forcing Target to do ANYTHING. If Target wants to keep selling the game, then they can keep on selling the game regardless of how many complaints they get.

Considering it's Australia, I'm surprised it was even released to begin with in the country.

They aren't missing too much.

Only because we finally have an R18+ rating... but that still doesn't guarantee anything.

This is an important part of the problem in this discussion and any discussion related to criticising art. There seems to be a strong belief that small minorities ARE in fact forcing these decisions on companies; that it's in fact not Target's choice to stop selling GTA V, but that they are succumbing to (pc, sjw, feminist, social) pressure. It's really hard to convince the people who think this otherwise. These people apparently see criticism by supposedly ignorant (and in their eyes irrelevant) people as a threat, because they think it will affect future choices made by the artists in question. Any feminist (or sjw) complaining about GTA V (supposedly backed by an apparently very intimidating force of political correctness) is feared to prevent artists from making what they actually want to make. This seems to be the logic behind the desire to silence these critics. These critics and retailers don't matter, they don't play these games, they don't care about our preferences, but their actions and opinions will affect the developers in their future endeavors, which would lead to games we don't want. Nothing they say or do is relevant to videogames, but everything they say or do is dangerous. At least, that's how I interpret a lot (do note: NOT all) of the discomfort towards decisions made companies such as Target and opinions expressed by certain critics.

I think the challenge lies in convincing these people that the vast majority of artists will probably keep on making what they want to make, regardless of all the perceived sjw pressure...

Well boo hoo, i can i tell you the same thing the other way around... That's a bad argument...

OH they're not forcing them to take them off? Then why make the request that they do? These people are the Jack Thompsons of the world...

Spot on Ish_Basic

The problem here is that even though they are a small minority they have one of those cases that not only grow huge on social media but also has one answer, there is no middle ground, no other side , since no one wants to be associated with violence against women, even though its a game and no one says "hey but its a choice, noone is forcing anyone to be violent" and on the other side where the movies stand there is 100´s of movies with a lot more violence.

Heres a solution: If you believe the game is wrong, DONT BUY IT. (I realise thats not the problem)

Well there's really no way to convince them that artists will keep making what they want to make. Because any time an artist makes something that the audience didn't want them to make, then the audience immediately assumes that the artist was forced (rather than just wanting to make it like that).

I prefer looking at it from the other point of view: you can't ever prove that an artist wasn't forced by some unknown shadow figure to make something that he didn't want to make, but you CAN prove that an artist WAS forced to make something that he didn't want to make. So, to anyone who thinks that Target was forced to cater to a vocal minority, then support that statement. Tell me exactly who it was that forced Target to pull the game, and tell me HOW they went about forcing Target to pull the game against their wishes. That's actually verifiable: all that needs to be done is to identify who was responsible and how they did it.

Of course it works the other way around, that's the whole point. Any way you look at it, SOMEONE is not gonna get want they want. One retailer pulls a game from store shelves, another retailer keeps on selling the game. You're sitting there crying because some people wanted the game on Target's shelves and didn't get their way, but that fact remains that someone was destined to not get what they want regardless of how this turned out. You want things to turn out the way you want them to all the time, but that's ignoring that you don't own the company. Target does what Target wants to do, not what YOU want them to do. Target is resonsible for looking out for Target's best interests (within the bounds of the law), and it's not their obligation to give you or me or that dude what each of us wants (especially since it's impossible to please everyone when some people want the total opposite).

"OH they're not forcing them to take them off? Then why make the request that they do? These people are the Jack Thompsons of the world..."

Is that supposed to be serious? If the people who wanted GTA V off of Target's shelves were capable of forcing Target to pull the game, then they wouldn't have had to ask.

Also, Jack Thompson is a former attorney who is famous for trying to sue the video game industry. Show me the law suit against Target for carrying GTA V.

I am not crying about it, i think it's beyond stupid. Listening to people who don't buy games there is a stupid business decision, that's just fact. Putting the best selling game from the store is just idiotic.

Jack Thompson at least thought that real world violence came out from playing games, these feminists are stupid for being offended

So pulling the game was a stupid decision. Again...so what? If that was a stupid decision then that's Target's problem.

You've been talking about "rights" and "free speech", so I've got two questions for you.

1) Do you agree that the "stupid feminists" were exercising their "rights" to "free speech" when they complained to Target and asked for the game to be removed?

2) Do you agree that Target absolutely should have the right to pull the game from their shelves regardless of how many customers disagreed with the decision?

Its a PR stunt designed to draw in shoppers, for the Xmas rush.

Its like Target/Kmart saying "we listen to people and you can bring any sort of person here, young or old, its a family-friendly environment"

Also, my local Target still has copies, you just have to approach the "right" staff member without other customers over-hearing. I didn't buy the game, already had it on PS3, but it is possible to buy it.

Yes they did, but their free speech wants to censor other things.

Yes, it's their store. I already told you. It's fucking stupid though.

I think this guy put it well

How are they censoring anything when they have zero control over whether or not the game gets pulled?

Complaining does not equal censorship.

If you write a game review that complains about the game sucking and tells people that it's not worth the money, have you censored anything?

Do you even know what censorship is?

Exactly, people will see what they want to see. If you can't prove that artists won't be affected, then I don't have to prove they are.

The feminists and sjw's complaining on the internet and the mainstream media condemning violence in GTA. There you go. I don't have to tell you how, because the two things are happening around the same time, so there's obviously a connection and if you deny that connection you're probably not using common sense.

"Why the f*ck aren't they doing something that's actually pro-active? I mean, do you really think that this is a productive way to go about utilizing your f*cking, like, free will, you free speech and your ability to go and gather a bunch of people together, is to go and take down [insert something irrelevant]?" (5:46 min onwards)

Right back at you, man. His approach and attitude are IDENTICAL to the people he's criticising. The only difference is that he's got an opposite opinion. If you ask me, that man needs to take a good hard look in the mirror and realise he's also criticising himself.