How did it become so popular? Rockstar played a very successful marketing game. They hired publicist Max Clifford, who planted sensational stories in tabloids and proved that there is no such a thing as 'bad publicity.'
The creator of the game, Mike Dailly stated: "He designed all the outcry, which pretty much guaranteed MPs would get involved…He'd do anything to keep the profile high." The publicity sparked moral outrage among right-wing politicians and activist groups alike.
Co-creator David Jones is adamant that they were not going out of their way to make the game controversial. He said: "We always did everything from the perspective of what's going to be the most fun. It just naturally kept pushing us down the darker direction."
Grand Theft Auto V has sparked controversy yet again. In a segment of the game the mission 'By The Book', contains player-initiated torture. The methods used in this mission are kneecapping, electrocution, dental extraction, and waterboarding.
