Overshadowed by Controversy: Difference between revisions
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** Unsurprisingly, ''[[Grand Theft Auto V]]'' courted controversy, this time over its portrayal of women and a torture sequence carried out by [[Ax Crazy|Trevor Philips]] to an Azerbaijani individual who is believed to have links with terrorists. Politicans, advocacy groups and even video game journalists deemed the mission in poor taste. Asked about performing the torture sequence, Trevor's actor Steven Ogg said that he treated it like "just another day at the office", and was focused more on not making mistakes during filming than the scene's ethics. The sequence was censored in the Japanese release due to the country having more stringent guidelines. As for the portrayal of women, certain commentators remarked how females were unfairly treated ingame, one of them being GameSpot journalist Carolyn Petit. Adding to the complication was that the game was released at the time when the Gamergate controversy was taking place; the less said about the latter, the better.
** On top of the series being the butt of numerous controversies and lawsuits, it was reported that series co-writer Dan Houser cited changing sociopolitical attitudes as the reason why he left the company, as he felt increasingly uneasy with satirising modern American society without attracting controversy or offending anyone.
* ''[[Mafia III]]''{{'}}s social commentary sits right smack in the middle of the civil rights and racism issues the US is facing in recent years, especially with its portrayal of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], Confederate apologists and racist Southeners as [[Acceptable Targets]]. [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|Needless to say]], said right-wing/alt-right bigots took to Steam to review-bomb the game in what they saw as turning the ''Mafia'' series into an agenda-pushing propaganda piece by "social justice warriors". Not helping matters was series creator Daniel Vavra's connection with the Gamergate movement either; Vavra left 2K mid-way through ''Mafia II''{{'}}s development out of dissatisfaction over the publisher's demands for the game.
* In a similar vein to ''Postal'', ''[[Hatred]]'' became so reviled by even video game journalists and some gamers that it was initially rejected from [[Steam]] due to its gratuitous and no-holds-barred brand of sociopathic violence, only for Gabe Newell to apologise and have it re-listed. [[Epic Games]] reportedly sought to disassociate themselves from the issue by requesting to have the Unreal Engine logo removed from marketing material. (While the ''[[Unreal (series)|Unreal]]'' series is known for its graphic violence, it is rooted more in science-fiction fantasies rather than real-world apathy towards people.)
* ''[[Night Trap]]'' was one of the video games that contributed to the creation of the ESRB ratings in the United States. An infamous bathroom scene<ref>which the game does call you out for when you fail to spare the girl</ref> in particular was what led to intense Senate hearings with proponents of the ban saying it glorified violence toward women, while many of them admitted [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch|they hadn't played the game]]. In reality the supposedly-offensive scenes were rather mild in comparison to R-rated films, and was done more as a campy tribute to B-movie horror titles. The ''25th Anniversary'' re-release was given a milder T rating as a result.<ref>[https://www.esrb.org/ratings/35660/Night+Trap+-+25th+Anniversary+Edition/ Night Trap - 25th Anniversary Edition - ESRB]</ref>
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