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(July 26, 2005)

Rockstar's recent woes are continuing on a downward spiral, as yesterday the United States House of Representatives voted 355 to 21 in favor of launching a Federal Trade Commission inquiry into the game publisher's recent "Hot Coffee" game mod scandal in GTA: San Andreas.

The FTC investigation will try to determine if Rockstar tried to mislead the ESRB in terms of the content on GTA: San Andreas, in an attempt to ensure the game received a "Mature" rating, as opposed to "Adults Only".

Thanks to this vote, it has advanced House Resolution 376, which was introduced by Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI).  “I am outraged by the brazenness of Rockstar Games in their effort to do an end-run around the ratings system,” said Upton in a recent statement. 

“Parental involvement is the most important line of defense in determining the type of content suitable for children, and the ratings system empowers parents to do just that. Unfortunately, Rockstar Games’ deceit has severely undermined the integrity of the ratings system. What good are ratings that parent’s cannot put their faith in?”

“The release of ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’ was widely anticipated, but an Adults-Only rating would have severely limited its sales in retail outlets,” Upton later continued. “It appears that the publisher has blatantly circumvented the rules in order to 

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peddle sexually explicit material to our youth, and they should be held accountable. A company cannot be allowed to profit from deceit.”

This federal investigation into the game publisher could lead to Rockstar receiving a number of punishments, ranging from fines to a very expensive recall of older copies of San Andreas, where the Hot Coffee mod is present.