GTA V Taken off the Shelves in Australia After Complaints About "the Depiction of Violence Towards Women"

Following a petition in Australia regarding the GTA V's "delineation of violence against women", which gained round well-nigh 42,000 supporters on Change.org, the game was removed from two of the major departmental stores in the region. The campaign was launched by female survivors of violence in the hopes that their plea would exist taken seriously and the game would be removed from the shelves. And in lieu of the petition, Target and Kmart accept pulled the game off the shelves.

Target and Kmart Halt GTA V Sales in Australia, Accept-Two Interactive's CEO, Strauss Zelnick Replies

The game, claimed to be disturbingly violent past the protestors, should have been removed (according to the campaign) and seized of the selling activeness in all areas. The petition stated the post-obit:

"Please Target – nosotros appeal to you equally women survivors of violence, including women who experienced violence in the sexual practice industry, to immediately withdraw Grand Theft Auto V from sale."

A argument was issued past a Kmart Official to Kotaku, explaining the removal of GTA Five from the shelves. The statement explained:

"Post-obit a significant review of all content in Grand Theft Auto Games Kmart has taken the determination to remove this production immediately. Kmart apologises for non existence closer to the content of this game."

And in reply, Take-2 Interactive Software'southward CEO, Strauss Zelnick, (according to stevivor), has Issued a answer saying that:

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

A Counter Petition

Following the removal of GTA V from the stores in Australia, a counter petition on Modify.org was created which referred to the supporters of the petition as "a bunch of misinformed feminists that made a petition considering it apparently encourages players to cause violence against women."

The claim for the counter petition was that there was a reason that the game had a 18+ rating and stated that the game did non target women lone but information technology allowed you to kill, bash, hurt or shoot anyone regardless of the gender. Furthermore, a supporter of the counter petition, who has too experienced playing the game for over 200+ hours has given a host of reasons to why GTA V does not encourage violence of any kind, y'all can read in detail nigh the comments on the counter petition here.