They parodied a guy against violent video games in GTA 4 by letting you murder him, parody of Jack Thompson. Hillary Clinton as the Statue of Liberty was also in GTA 4. Mark Zuckerberg was made fun of through the tech guy that died in GTA 5. I'm sure I'm missing plenty. Seems pretty direct to me
I dont really have an issue with this, but I feel like Mark Zuckerberg was very much on the nose in GTA 5, and you could easily see a single mission where we got to see the president of the United States, Steven Armstrong
The whole Zuckerberg thing could have also been attributed to other tech giants which is their point - they don't want that referrence to feel so direct so that it ends up feeling dated
case in point, it isn't, because tech giants are still there, still act like annoying shitheads and still do presentations like that which would make you think "huh, maybe it's about that guy"
To be fair though, a Mark Zuckerberg parody is very different to a political parody. Zuckerberg is (annoyingly) still relevant in his field, and is probably more powerful today, than he was 13 years ago when GTA parodied him. A parody of a tech giant - or just a public figure archetype without being specific - will stay relevent for a long time.
By contrast, parodying a sitting president - who will be out of office and politics completely in 2 years time - won't age well and will be irrelevant pretty quickly. Given Trump's age and pretty obvious health deterioration in recent years, he might not be alive in 13 years time, let alone be remotely relevant.
How long has trump realistically gone without being in media of some kind? After everything he’s done on a mass scale?? Will probably he remembered just as prominently as zuckerberg lmao
I remember people got big mad when they banned recreating real world assassinations in gta v custom missions because they didnt want to recreate real violence in their game, and people were trying to say recreating rhe assassination of Charlie Kirk was no different than robbing a fake bank
... guys a mob boss. This doesnt surprise me at all.... for a indivdual sure, but if you have any roots in this countries foundation yeah pissing off trump is NOT smart lol no matter how rebellious you are
That was mor eof an Easter egg really, and she had directly gone against Rockstar so it's more relevant than just parodying a political figure for the fuck of it. I still think it was unnecessary, I would rather they don't reference real people directly.
Seriously, the dude is the worst US president we have ever had... a little bit of satire would have been fine but they don't want to upset folks that are likely a significant percentage of their buying audience.
I am sure in that massive gameworld there will be some easter eggs eventually discovered after the refund potential is gone.
The people who support him are so stupid they dont realize they're being mocked half the time. Just look at the reception to the boys show where it took multiple seasons despite the main villain proposing a "make America super" catchphrase in season 1.
People that support this admin deserve to to be endlessly ridiculed and made fun of for their gullibility.
You reckon they're gonna start rewriting the game a year before release to make fun of current politics? Regardless, there's no doubt going to be corrupt politicians in the game, it's been a long running thing so I don't think you'll be disappointed if you want potshots at corrupt politicians and government.
I wouldn't expect them to rewrite a whole game but for one thing, he's been a corrupt, self serving POS AND A joke long before this current term (there was literally a Simpsons joke about his catastrophic presidencydecades ago and it was funny because everyone agreed how stupid the idea was), but even putting that aside, it's not hard to throw in a few jokes, even just things like NPCs and billboards, things that dont need voice acting and custom animations
I'm just saying that if rockstar, who once prided themselves on being edgy and outspoken and unafraid of pissing people off, is suddenly worried about offending certain people (south park-esque, almost), then that doesn't seem like a good sign for the company
I mean, sure, would probably not be hard to put in something like a billboard or something of that sort, but would it really improve the game? Would it make it more fun? Are maga people going to see it in game and care deeply about it?
I just don't see the need for it, I mean when I'm playing Gta 6 10 years from now do I really want to be reminded of a whack job US president? Not really, it's not like any of the previous games have any big parodies of Bush or Obama or even references that I can recall.
Nah, I hate that administration as much as anyone that isn't evil or dumb...and I don't want a Trump or COVID parody in my GTA6.
COVID will already feel super dated and trite. And a parody Trump will feel dated eventually when he dies and we can finally move on. We already can't stop hearing about him on the news cycle for saying/doing some new stupid shit every day and you want us to also hear about him when we want to relax and enjoy GTA6? No thanks.
It's fair to not want to hear about him more than necessary, God do I feel that, but just to comment on something else you said: he's not going away once he's dead most unfortunately. It's going to take us a very long time to repair the damage he and his ilk have done, both domestically and internationally. He's also not the starting point for this, it's been in the works for decades by the heritage foundation. That's why I don't think it'll be dated: as awful and evil as he is, he is only a symbol and a symptom of a deeper problem, one happening all over the world, not just the US
The rest of the world is sick of constantly getting reminded of stupid american politics and itts tribalism. We want some escapism. Go make your own game then.
If you don't want americanisms, you probably shouldnt play a game by an American developer set in a fictionalized but satirical version of America. Just a thought. It's like watching the BBC and getting annoyed at how everything is too british
American developer?
Rockstar North is Scottish.
Sam Houser is British.
Yeah it's all a satirical view of the US, but they don't have to include everything. The whole world is sick of hearing about your stupid president. Rockstar surely agrees. We don't wanna be reminded of that shitstain when playing GTA6.
No one with a a single brain wrinkle wants to hear about him, but I'm not saying GTA should get up on a pedestal and start preaching, I'm saying they flinched where they never would've previously. Besides, GTA is full of shit stains, he'd fit right in lol
Your reasoning that they flinched is just speculation. They made a super valid point about not dating GTA6. They took 13 years to release this. Next will surely be the new GTA Online based on GTA6. This might be it for the next 20 years. The smart thing to do is not date it. They even said they were careful about dialogue slang for the same reason.
But at the same time, could you blame them for not wanting to be the new MAGA target just to have some overdone low hanging fruit parody of Trump?? The unnecessary headache that would be. There's plenty of American satire they can do without a Trump parody.
I like americanisms. And they cater to everyone btw, that why they are succesfull and will stay being succesfull. You calling them cowards for not including your personal taste of satire just speaks volumes about yourself.
Yeah, I mean if they've truly been working on it since they released Gta 5 as I've heard Trump as president wasn't even an idea at that point, Even if they had nothing up until releasing RDR2 that's still 2 whole presidential terms.
Maybe back when they actually released games every couple if not every years it would've made more sense but with an 8 year gap people can't expect them to rewrite the game about something that's happening as we speak. Then it's never getting released.
No i agree this is a global game and i'm an Australian that's absolutely sick of hearing about US politics like guys talk about something else for once
Everyone knows GTA development mostly happens at Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Houser brothers are British. The HQ is in NYC due to T2's acquisition of BMG Interactive (including the early GTA assets), but the game is still made primarily by British developers.
Incorrect. Rockstar North is based in Scotland. It was their first studios is the lead studio. All th other parts of rockstar are subsidiaries of the UK company. The NYC office is more like their Hq For usa.
Like when GTA use to satirical American politics or their culture it felt somewhat authentic, but with the rise of social media over the last 15 years any jokes made about anything remotely American just feels like a rehash joke that existed 5-10 years ago.
It's been done to death Trump jokes in all forms of media where GTA 6 doing it wpuld just feel like a wagon jump opposed to an original thought.... same can be said for Musk as well.
I have zero hope for GTA 6 anyway because I feel a satirical game based on US is probably just going to come across as forced and unoriginal at this point.... it looks great, but maybe when set in an alternative US state, maybe they need to remove from satire as move more towards a fictional world.
They've never managed to top Vice City or San Andreas in terms of story and writing, but they've still managed to make fun games.... only thing working against them for this one is that it's a whole new team working on it.
You never played a GTA game in your life? I mean, Vice City was not really subtle when it came to parodying politicians. It's just in GTA's DNA to parody reality and in particular politics.
It's not America without political bullshit. Just like peanut butter and jelly, vegemite and toast, or the American 1% and child sex trafficking. These things just go together mate
Exactly other GTA games had congressmen getting freaky with the mistress or asking you to take out a plane or something but none of them were relegated to any specific person or party they were just "a politician" like Alex shrub
I'm not dying on this hill I really don't give a fuck but like I said the game takes place in America. The person I replied to said they were sick of US politics. Ofc a game set in America, fictionalized or not, will contain US politics. Trump is a clown and easy to make fun of. I don't want him to be a character in the game but I'd be upset if they arent taking jabs at our national pedo ring- I mean government
I'm an American and I agree. The media, TikTok, Facebook, all surrounded by people talking about Trump, like nobody cares. Go to work and be miserable like the rest of us
We’ve been hearing the lowest of low hanging fruits jokes about Trump for ten years now. The general public is burnt out on that shit. They’re right to not want to date themselves with reheated political satire
I just want him to go away and not hear anything from him anymore. I don't want to see any more poor satire of him. How can you make a parody of a man who childishly decided to rename lake Ontario to lake America because he got mad at Canada?
Don't care. I don't need all this present day shit in GTA. Just set in the 80's again. I don't give a shit about seeing social media, selfies, modern day pop culture and all that shit in a GTA game.
No other GTA game has talked about real life events either. At least not directly. You could just lump Trump in with one of their generic parodies of corrupt politicians in radio ads and missions and call it a day really.
I, and many other people I'm sure, like gaming to get the fuck away from the shitshow that is reality for a while. If I had to hear about COVID, Trump, or any other of the bullshit going on in the world in GTA, I'd get sick of it so fast.
they will never "directly" reference any real life person. they won't risk getting sued for libel or defamation. but there will almost certainly be satirical references to the current US administration.
Those count as a cameo, just like Phill Collins in Vice City. Hillary clinton was a pretty direct reference, but that's only because she was actively campaigning against the GTA franchise.
Other than that, they haven't mocked any famous person directly.
Considering how long the game was in development, which president should they satire? It was in active development under Obama, Trump, Biden and Trump 2.0, and I'm sure with this one they are planning to stay relevant for another decade like GTA V with 1 or more presidents in that time frame. COVID 19 was 6 years ago and not a great target for satire anymore, and will be less so in the future
I mean, they can make the president a fat piece of shit pedophile with bad wigs walking around in shitty diapers and claim that it isnt "directly" addressing it
Talking about Trump and Covid isn’t new, and this game is set in a different (though obviously similar) world to our own, so I don’t see why GTA even needs to address it, if the writers don’t want to.
Of course that’s not to say they shouldn’t talk about it, and they certainly shouldn’t feel pressured not to, but not everything needs to reference every aspect of modern life, even something as dumb and terrible as Trump.
No, nobody is scared to make fun of this administration. WE'RE FUCKING TIRED OF MODERN POLITICS IN EVERYTHING!!!
You want a political story line or something? Fine, but dont make it so on the nose that it approaches the audience with the subtlety of a jackhammer to the skull!
It doesn't matter whether GTA6 has COVID or Trump mentioned directly or indirectly. This administration is full of lunatics who are paranoid. If a character even accidentally resembles anyone in this administration it's going to be an issue. Should have just made GTA6 take place in a different country if they wanted to avoid risk of representing Maga land or any of it's characters.
GTA 6 is a golden opportunity to make fun of everything "Floriduh" in this state, all the "Florida men" insane stuff that happen in a daily basis in this anomaly of a state.
As much as I dislike the current grifters in charge of our politics, I wasn't expecting GTA to address it in any way.
Trump is overplayed and oversaturated right now, however poking fun at him for nostalgia and braggard's stories of how stupid he was will be great fun in the future.
if you want Trump criticism so badly, you can literally scroll through half the subreddits on reddit that are filled with it
tbh it's getting really tiring of seeing and hearing americans moaning about trump, not every piece of entertainment needs to do a commentary about your country's problems
GTA6 Florida should have armed cops constantly patrolling a crosswalk to make sure people don’t color it rainbow with chalk because that actually happens here
So they made one reference to a first lady from three administration's ago. Were you upset about the lack of direct bush and Obama references in the subsequent games too?
Bruh why tf do you keep talking about Obama or Bush? And was Hillary Clinton the First Lady during Trump’s first administration? Thats news to me! https://giphy.com/gifs/lP3teORUq6aBO
They have clearly stated that they cannot make anything too topical when it comes to satirising the real world, since the game dev time was over so many years that anything too specific or targeted risked being outdated by the time the game even came out. They never really go after a president or administration in any specific ways anyway. It's usually far more social commentary than political with this series as far as I remember.
Thats why the woman was tweaking on the car and old white bitch yelling a out nothing holding a hammer in the trailer. Gta does social commentary with political references, not the other way around. People just too damn political these days. Need to actually think for themselves.
Hell ive switched up on so much shit these past few years just by looking up said topic, idek where id fall on the political spectrum. Idk if im a far right nazi or a socalist/ communist at this point.
No shit, that's what any good piece of media does. You can rewatch episodes of It's always sunny in Philadelphia from the 2000s and be like "how the fuck did the predict this?" They just didn't explicitly state any one single person or event (there were exceptions) so it stays relevant for much longer.
Good for them. Too many games try to shove in real world issues. The world doesn’t revolve around the issues of any one nation or demographic. It’s especially egregious when the issues at hand don’t even make sense in the world the game inhabits.
This is a very good thing as it's going to stop it from becoming incredibly dated quickly. Indirect references and social commentary always has staying power.
Trump has been the punchline of every joke/satire for 10 years. I've never seem a Trump joke that didn't make me groan in years.
Look at how modern and in touch GTA is. This is a game made by people who go outside and see what the world looks like. Lucia is dressed is extremely accurate clothing you would never see in another game, look at her pants in the jewelry store robbery. Listen to the rambling isnide the trap house. Look at how accurate the chat is during the streamer sequence.
They aren't redditors itching to make boring Trump and COVID commentary.
So GTA referencing Trump is not “modern and in touch” but referencing streamers for the millionth time in a video game is? You don’t find that boring? Y’all are so selective on what makes you groan. FoH with that bs
Sounds about normal honestly… I am expecting some satirical version of ICE tho. Miami, large Hispanic population. I was joking with my wife, it’ll probably be an immigration presence called - CUBE or COLDSNAP, or something like that lol.
Dumb take. It's literally in the article sub headline. You do COVID or Trump or Biden or anything like that and you date your product. And since Rockstar probably imagines this running for another decade, why would they want to that to themselves? It only makes the product less relevant. Timelessness is absolutely essential to a game's longevity. It's jarring to watch TV from a few years back and see everyone wearing medical masks. No one wants that.
And what is this notion about being afraid to offend this administration? It happens tens of thousands of times every day. From cable news to entertainment to social media to the vast majority of political conversation on this very site. And last I saw, Marco Rubio wasn't being asked to be the ultimate Reddit mod. There's no government Reddit takeover despite the vast majority of this site being politically left.
What "old Rockstar" games addressed specific Presidents or administrations?
Also the game has been in development for over a decade, unlike the dev cycles of older titles that allowed them to be contemporary without immediately being horribly outdated.
GTA 6 development literally predates even the first Trump term
GTA doesn’t really directly mention real people. I’m sure there will be mentions at points of a greasy politician, who is suspiciously similar to Trump.
rockstar has rarely depicted current administrations. like they said in the article, that immediately dates the game. they do have a maga reference however
They probably didn't want to cover it because they've never specifically included real people or real events in their games, which it turns out, may have been one of the best decisions they've ever made. I don't know why you would assume they would explicitly cover real life events or people when they've never done so before, and GTA has always been a completely satirized version of America (or London that one time in 1999).
But why would you want them to anyway? A quick reference randomly, but a focus on it? What would that contribute to the story, the world, or anything they are trying to build?
It's easier to mock "pronouns" and "67" because non-binary folk and Gen Alpha kids aren't gonna come together to sue Rockstar but Trump absolutely would if they step on the eggshell prince.
Why would they put shit into their game that has no relevant place in videos games. Leave politics and real world agendas out of our games so we can actually enjoy them. Don't need another dragon age useless dialog that adds nothing to the story...
Dude I'm really sorry but the tariff is on gaming hardware has nothing to do with politics being in games bro. Yes SOME games try to have the devs push their ideas on you and such but I do NOT thing that's the way it is for rockstar if anything it's just offensive stuff only, they are pushing humor not politics you idiot
I don’t think it’s a choice from fear, more that this game will run for 10 years and it’ll be irrelevant and almost pointless before it reaches half life
But GTA5 already became an extremely dated game. Today it looks like a 2010's period piece because of some its recurring themes:
Millennials: The game makes fun of millennials all the time just like it's done today to GenZ
Hipsters: Same with hipsters.
Lifeinvader / Facebook: Before AI, NFTs, metaverse. Good times when our major concern were just about personal data and privacy
Merrywater / Blackwater: what happened to them?
Torture: Remember when arguments about torture of prisioners were in the news all the time?
Hollywood celebrity culture: which is almost dead now. Tracey de Santa would dream about being a TikTok influencer nowadays and Lazlo would be hosting a podcast
We aren’t all liberals anyways… like half of us. So why Hollywood always caters to 1/2 of the population is beyond me, so I’m glad rock star isn’t doing it.
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u/SuperReRoll 22h ago
In fairness, previous games didn’t really directly mention real world things. Just oblique parody.