Looks like the legal portion of the “Hot Coffee” uproar is finally over. Take-Two Interactive, parent company of Grand Theft Auto-makers Rockstar Games, put out a press release today saying they’ve come to a settlement in the class action lawsuit. Here’s the important part:

Under the proposed settlement, the class action will be dismissed in exchange for an aggregate payment of $20,115,000 into a settlement fund for the benefit of class members, of which $15,200,000 will be paid by the Company’s insurance carriers, and $4,915,000 will be paid by the Company.

GTA - Hot Coffee

Smack it, Attack it, Hit it from the back

Twenty-million??  Damn, bitch! That’s a lotta dough for a little bit of sex. If you remember, the Hot Coffee scandal involved hidden sex mini-games that people figured out how to unlock in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, way back in 2005. People flipped out and copies were quickly pulled from store shelves until a new no-Coffee version was released.

At the time there was a lot of debate over why Rockstar hid this content in the game. They must have known people were going to find it. But it must not have occurred to them that throwing interactive sex into a Mature-rated game, without telling anyone, would ultimately reflect negatively on the whole gaming industry. GTA was already the public target for everything that’s “wrong” in games. There was no need to up the ante. Maybe Rockstar just like causing a commotion.

As much as I love to see sexual content in games, I still think it should be done openly. It doesn’t need to be hidden away. The only way sex in games is going to gain acceptance is if it’s done under full disclosure and with its head held high. If it’s done any other way publishers are just going to open themselves up to more suits like this one.