Lukewarm response to Hot Coffee settlement

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Jun 25, 2008 3:20 pm PT

The New York Times reports that less than 2,700 US residents have collected under $30,000 following class action over hit game.

In November, Take-Two Interactive reached a settlement with disgruntled purchasers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas over a class action suit stemming from the the hidden "Hot Coffee" sex minigame. The suit brought threatened to have the publisher pay out as much as $2.75 million for the game, which has generated over $370 million in revenue by selling above over 9.1 million copies in the US, according to the NPD Group.

Those who were offended by the game and pledged that they wouldn't have purchased San Andreas had they known about the Hot Coffee content could snag between $5 and $35 from Take-Two in restitution. Despite the mainstream media furor and political posturing that arose in the wake of the minigame's discovery, only 2,676 filed claims in the Take-Two class action settlement, according to The New York Times. Those claims totaled less than $30,000, meaning Take-Two will make up the rest of the $1 million minimum it pledged to spend as part of the settlement by other means, including an $860,000 charitable contribution.

By contrast, the lawyers whose suit brought about the settlement are seeking $1.3 million in legal fees. With the settlement still awaiting judicial approval, another lawyer unrelated to the case is seeking to have it denied. According to the paper, Theodore H. Frank, director of the Legal Center for the Public Interest at the American Enterprise Institute, believes the lawyers who brought the case are either "selling out" their clients to get their own payday, or brought a suit that had no merit to begin with.

194 Comments

  • chinakat

    Posted Sep 1, 2009 3:52 pm PT

    They didn't have to get the hot coffee mod. It required an action replay, and one hell of a lot of codes. If you're offended, dont punch in the codes.

  • Durb118

    Posted Aug 18, 2008 11:11 pm PT

    Parents who cant be bothered to take an interest in their kids gaming habits are now oh so shock horror offended! Serves em right! Lets get little Johnny a 6 pack, a porn movie, and a $250 casino tab! Nah, but why with games?

  • bloodlust555666

    Posted Jul 1, 2008 12:04 pm PT

    Pft you really think this would have been such a huge issue were all the players actually 17 years of age and older?

  • fkholmes

    Posted Jun 30, 2008 3:35 pm PT

    Lol, they don't even deserve a dollar.

  • MoonMarvel

    Posted Jun 30, 2008 4:18 am PT

    As long as the stories keep getting peoples attention. Ignore it and so will they.

  • megamanzero32

    Posted Jun 30, 2008 3:00 am PT

    How long are they going to keep talking about this!?

  • JReefer1

    Posted Jun 30, 2008 12:21 am PT

    Under 30,000,lol. So they could have received a dollar.

  • simonromano2007

    Posted Jun 28, 2008 9:07 pm PT

    why do people always find wrong stuff in video games i mean R rated movies have even worst stuff and i dont hear about a giant law suit

  • acsam12304

    Posted Jun 28, 2008 6:25 pm PT

    We should sue those people, on the behalf of Take-Tow. Because they HACKED A GAME PROGRAM THAT. YOU GET IN TROUBLE FOR HACKING INTO ANYTHING THAT YOU DONT HAVE PERMISSION TO DO.

  • eldertaco

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 6:37 pm PT

    An "m" rated game!!!!!!!! Do you freek out if you buy an R rated movie and there is somthing inappropriate!?!

  • combatsoldier

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 5:27 pm PT

    This is so ridiculous. Come on already. Its just another way to stab the gaming industry. Alright already enough is enough. This is an adult video game and if you dont like it then dont play it. I bet half of these people didnt even know about it until they read it on the news. This is utterly and completely ridiculous.

  • Neloy

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 11:29 am PT

    Hmm!! How about donating the rest 860000 dollars to any charitable organization? Well thats a meaningful thing to do rather than spending those on morons. Take Two will be blessed by millions.

  • necronaux

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 9:51 am PT

    No one should be making money off of any of these law suits. It's just a game. You don't like it, don't play. Why are the courts even alowing these cases? Here's how we fix this... get rid of all they lawyers!!!

  • DragFire24

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 3:38 am PT

    Those 2700 ppl are really fu**ers!! The Hot Coffee thing was only viewable using a patch and if they have applied the patch they knew what they where going for... They just did worse than downloading copies of the game, they actually stole money from T2.

    "Those who were offended by the game..." described as they were poor innocent people?!?! :/ wtf T2 here did give money for free... No offense to US people but your laws su**s.

  • Razzi65

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 3:29 am PT

    oxytocin :
    lolzzz.. wht a lovely pic.. nice work done dear..

  • MoonMarvel

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 3:18 am PT

    Ever thought that they did put it in there and the patch just found what T2 had hidden in the game? Ever thought of that? If they didn't put it in there explain why they were found liable in a court of law over something they didn't do. Explain that! If that was the case why not challenge it?

    As for the console edition, it wasn't in there. It was the PC version that had it. I am done here, I have proved my point.

  • Darth_Tyrranus

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 10:53 pm PT

    MoonMarvel, if that was really the case, then please explain to me why Take Two lost the lawsuit.

  • acsam12304

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 6:48 pm PT

    Come on if they said GTA: Vice City and part 3 was bad , and had sex in them and you can kill hokkers in boths game ans all. what made them thik GTA:SA will be a Barney game?

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