Take-Two’s president says Target/K-mart Australia’s ban on GTA V “flies in the face of everything that free society is based on.”
Earlier this month, we ran a rather interesting story on how two major Australian retailers decided to ban the sale of GTA V from their stores, based on some signatures gathered in a hilarious misinformed petition. The gaming community at large face-palmed the event, and lamented that the introduction of an R18 rating in the country was supposed to stop this kind of nonsense. Now, Take-Two’s president has come out swinging at Target and Kmart, openly condemning the ban, and stating that it “flies in the face of everything that free society is based on.”
“It’s one thing for someone to not want to buy a piece of content, which is completely understandable,” Take-Two president Karl Slatoff said during a presentation at BMO Capital Markets 2014. “And that’s really the solution. If you don’t like it and it’s offensive to you, then you don’t buy it. But for a person or a group of people to try to make that decision for millions of people…”
“We have 34 million people who bought Grand Theft Auto, and if these folks had their way, none of those people would be able to buy Grand Theft Auto. And that really just flies in the face of everything that free society is based on. It’s the freedom of expression, and to try to squelch that is a dangerous and slippery slope to go down.”
Slatoff went on to state that while he was incredibly disappointed in Target and Kmart, ultimately, the decision doesn’t really have any effect on the company at all. “Our business is going to be completely unaffected by this; it doesn’t make a difference to us. At the end of the day though, it’s not something you want because it’s a poor leadership decision.”
“Australia is relatively small for us, and two retailers are relatively small in the context of Australia,” Slatoff said. “There are other places for folks to buy Grand Theft Auto in Australia.”
Ouch, Target and Kmart. Do you guys need some cream for that sick burn?
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
