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'Hot Coffee,' stock-option suit settled for $20.1 million

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Sep 1, 2009 2:38 pm PT

Take-Two Interactive will set up fund to pay plaintiffs in class action stemming from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sex minigames, 'historical stock option granting practices.'

Over four years after the "Hot Coffee" scandal rocked the game industry, Take-Two Interactive has settled the matter once and for all. Today, the Rockstar Games parent announced that it has reached an out-of-court agreement with the members of a class action suit stemming from the hidden sex minigames in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

"Oh, no. I'm not falling for that 'Wanna come up for some coffee?' line again."

The class action is different from another settled in late 2007, when purchasers of the sex-minigame-tainted version of San Andreas were offered a partial refund or a cleaned-up edition of the game. The suit settled today also addressed accusations of stock-option backdating, over which Take-Two paid the Securities and Exchange Commission $3 million in April without admitting any wrongdoing.

"We are pleased to have reached this settlement and put this historical matter behind us," Take-Two CEO Ben Feder told analysts during a post-earnings release conference call.

In exchange for the plaintiffs dropping the suit, the New York City-based publisher will put $20,115,000 into a fund to dole out payments. Of that, $15,200,000 will be paid by Take-Two's insurers and $4,915,000 by the company itself. The publisher said it had saved up its part of the settlement during "several quarters" before April 30, 2009. Ironically, it was during that month that Take-Two settled another class action suit filed by shareholders after the company refused to be bought by Electronic Arts at a hefty premium in 2008.

Today's settlement ends a chain of events that began over four years ago. In summer 2005, hackers unlocked hidden sex minigames in the PC and console editions of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. As a result, the game was rerated AO for Adults Only, forcing Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive to edit and rerelease the game at an estimated cost of over $50 million. By the end of that July, the Federal Trade Commission had launched a now-concluded investigation.

226 Comments

  • Rx_Nightmare

    Posted Nov 27, 2009 7:17 pm PT

    Who the f*ck was suing T2/R*? The Federation of Sandy Vag*na'd Moms? P*ss off people if we want to see t*ts and A$$ after we pop a 40. oz and "cap a b*tch" we will!

  • hannify

    Posted Sep 8, 2009 4:46 pm PT

    @Jaguar_Shade: America is afraid of nudity. Ironic - seeing as nobody would think twice about some barman having a rifle or shotgun.

  • buffdaddy69

    Posted Sep 8, 2009 11:50 am PT

    people are still complaining about this?

  • 73X

    Posted Sep 6, 2009 10:46 pm PT

    I thought this whole ordeal was over years ago.

  • AcidRainPain

    Posted Sep 6, 2009 8:30 pm PT

    Oh no naked simulated filth blah blah blah 20 million dollar loss blah.

  • simonsworld

    Posted Sep 6, 2009 10:46 am PT

    stupid case, did it really matter 4 years later? patethic more tax payers money down the drain,in a "inner city" location where it looks at guns,murder and drugs and hookers, why something as natural as sex become so outrageous, and yea the game had age restritctions i no san andreas was banned from austrailla at some point,over reaction to the limits.

  • Jaguar_Shade

    Posted Sep 6, 2009 6:00 am PT

    Wasnt the game MA17+ in the states anyways?

    So I am to believe 17 year olds in America dont know about sex and seeing it in a game was... too much to bear?

  • X-RS

    Posted Sep 5, 2009 4:32 pm PT

    oh and podxcom, mario killed hundreds too, just less graphic. usually crushed someone by jumping on em. i thought it was artisitic and fun like many, but is really something a stoner would think up.

    this whole thing is bs btw. you know how many tv series there are just about people f#ckin/doin drugs with endless love triangles n most are barely 18. sex is ok in tv and music.
    violence is ok in games and movies.

  • X-RS

    Posted Sep 5, 2009 4:19 pm PT

    @OF-5
    lol if the transformers were more organic then itd be the goriest kung fu flick eva. chestbuster scene where optimus punch>crushes decepticons hearts, bumble bee spinal rip, etc.

  • tekken220

    Posted Sep 5, 2009 6:06 am PT

    Ever since hackers made the Hot Coffee mod, I've seen 6-year old kids talk about how "super duper fun" (lol) the mod is. I also heard that 2 kids had sex and learned how to do that because of the mod. Why do parents buy games like this for their kids if it's rated M?

  • OF-5

    Posted Sep 4, 2009 9:53 pm PT

    @ PodxCOM Transformers 2 as bad as Alien?!!?! I don't think that we are thinking about the same Alien. Last time I checked their were no chestburster scenes in Transformers 2...

  • Brianfox1

    Posted Sep 4, 2009 4:50 pm PT

    They shouldn't have don't that if parents don't want their kids to see that they shouldn't buy them the games.

  • TheMassEffect

    Posted Sep 4, 2009 4:43 pm PT

    The game is M for Mature for a reason. If parents buy their kids these games its their fault. Just like scarface_dm said, If anyone saw it they must have been looking for it.

  • PodXCOM

    Posted Sep 4, 2009 2:56 pm PT

    @grey_SUN: Have you seen the Transformers movies?

    I don't know what is wrong with Michael Bay, but that is *NOT* what you show to kids! Alien The Movie had Nothing as bad as whats in Transformers 2, yet it gets a 'R' while both Transformers gets a 'PG-13'. You know why? Because Alien was made in 1979. If Transformers was made then, It most likely would get an 'R' too!

  • grey_SUN

    Posted Sep 4, 2009 12:04 pm PT

    @PodXCOM: gonna have to disagree with you there...the gaming industry is not heading in any direction in which violence and sex is more prominantly in games. Just look at the Wii and how much it sold. Plus the "music" genre such as guitar hero, rockband, DJ hero and so forth.

  • PodXCOM

    Posted Sep 4, 2009 11:41 am PT

    @danthegamer32: Well, not all, but *most* gamers in this page say that. It seems people don't want any morality in their games. They don't want to holed back the murdering and sex for the kids. 'No!', they say, "the kids should see all this bad stuff! It's good for them.'

  • danthegamer32

    Posted Sep 4, 2009 8:10 am PT

    @PodXCOM: how do you know *all* gamers say that?

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