Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under

Target has stopped selling Grand Theft Auto V in Australia, citing the depiction of violence against women in the open-world action game which depicts violence against everyone. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation says this is the result of this petition, which collected more than 40,000 signatures based on a not-completely-accurate description of the game. They have an official statement on the topic from Jim Cooper, general manager of corporate affairs for the marksmanship-themed retailer:

"We've been speaking to many customers over recent days about the game, and there is a significant level of concern about the game's content."

"We've also had customer feedback in support of us selling the game, and we respect their perspective on the issue."

"However, we feel the decision to stop selling GTA5 is in line with the majority view of our customers."

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70 Replies. 4 pages. Viewing page 1.
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 4, 2014, 13:11
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 4, 2014, 13:11
Dec 4, 2014, 13:11
 
nin wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 22:54:
It's much more disturbing killing someone with an axe from the first person, believe me.
Yeah I saw some footage of a guy killing civilians with a knife. I won't lie, I was a bit disturbed.
The first person view really connects you to the act.

Though when playing Wolfenstein, per se, it doesn't seem as terrible. In fact, it's awesome :p
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 4, 2014, 09:25
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 4, 2014, 09:25
Dec 4, 2014, 09:25
 
Ozmodan wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 18:31:
Good for them.

For all the clueless people who said it is just a game, I feel really sorry for you failure to grasp basic humanity.

Please tell us all about basic humanity.
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 4, 2014, 06:20
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 4, 2014, 06:20
Dec 4, 2014, 06:20
 
Orogogus wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 19:47:
Julio wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 18:57:
I find it quite funny that a lot of the anti-GG folks play GTA V.

Aren't people in this thread saying there's nothing misogynistic since violence is applied indiscriminately?

I don't think I've ever heard the key anti-GG figures agree with violence against women in video games regardless of whether it is equal to that experienced by men. Equality is not the anti-GG creed.
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 4, 2014, 02:36
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 4, 2014, 02:36
Dec 4, 2014, 02:36
 
shihonage wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 17:03:
The petition to stop Diablo3 from looking like Disneyland gained over 60k signatures, and those smarmy fuckers did nothing.

Ha. Well said. They wouldnt though, the greedy corporate pricks. Im still pissed over that.
I have a nifty blue line!
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66.
 
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 22:54
nin
66.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 22:54
Dec 3, 2014, 22:54
nin
 
siapnar wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 22:49:
Am I the only one who thinks it's kinda fucked up that Rockstar put in the effort for first person sex...
Kinda trashy, even for GTA.

That said, I can't wait to play this game

It's much more disturbing killing someone with an axe from the first person, believe me.

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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 22:49
65.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 22:49
Dec 3, 2014, 22:49
 
Am I the only one who thinks it's kinda fucked up that Rockstar put in the effort for first person sex...
Kinda trashy, even for GTA.

That said, I can't wait to play this game
64.
 
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 22:28
64.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 22:28
Dec 3, 2014, 22:28
 
Wraith wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 13:04:
Yeah, the thing is, we banned semi-automatics and cut our gun massacres to zero. You guys need guns to feel like men and you're still killing your kids.

We're ahead of you mate. By decades.

New Zealand seems to be doing just fine too, and they didn't resort to a national ban on firearms.
The current paper examines the incidence of mass shootings in Australia and New Zealand (a country that is socioeconomically similar to Australia, but with a different approach to firearms regulation) over a 30 year period. It does not find support for the hypothesis that Australia’s prohibition of certain types of firearms has prevented mass shootings, with New Zealand not experiencing a mass shooting since 1997 despite the availability in that country of firearms banned in Australia.

Prez wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 15:41:
This is way off topic, so feel free to shoot me in the face (I'm a guy so it's perfectly okay!) But I have to say Australia =/= America. In Australia the main type of firearm owned by the citizenry are hunting rifles, and even then, don't you have to belong to a licensed hunting club to own one? Correct me if I am wrong, but the only ones that even had access to assault rifles were the standing army who kept them locked up in their homes. It was easy to ban assault rifles in Australia and enforce the ban because they knew exactly who had them and where they were, and there were relatively very few of them. There is an ungodly number of assault rifles in the US and there is no way in hell at this point that a ban could be realistically enforced. It's even more ridiculous of a notion given how many handguns are in the US. To argue at this point whether the US should or shouldn't ban some or all type of firearms is beyond pointless. The US is not Australia.

Since we're off topic... "Assault rifles" are a more of an enthusiast/collectors firearm. They're expensive and rarely used to commit crimes. More people are murdered every year by bare hands than all types of rifles (source). The DOJ's analysis of the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban concluded that its effects on gun violence was "too small for reliable measurement, because assault weapons are rarely used in gun crimes." Yet any time an assault weapon is used in a crime, the media is all over it getting everyone upset calling for a ban of the least used weapon to commit crimes.
"You can either want something to be true, or you can want the truth. Pick one." - Mr. Diety
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 21:59
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 21:59
Dec 3, 2014, 21:59
 
So I guess this is a "consumer revolt", then?
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 21:22
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 21:22
Dec 3, 2014, 21:22
 
Prez wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 15:41:
Wraith wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 13:04:
Yeah, the thing is, we banned semi-automatics and cut our gun massacres to zero. You guys need guns to feel like men and you're still killing your kids.

We're ahead of you mate. By decades.

This is way off topic, so feel free to shoot me in the face (I'm a guy so it's perfectly okay!) But I have to say Australia =/= America. In Australia the main type of firearm owned by the citizenry are hunting rifles, and even then, don't you have to belong to a licensed hunting club to own one? Correct me if I am wrong, but the only ones that even had access to assault rifles were the standing army who kept them locked up in their homes. It was easy to ban assault rifles in Australia and enforce the ban because they knew exactly who had them and where they were, and there were relatively very few of them. There is an ungodly number of assault rifles in the US and there is no way in hell at this point that a ban could be realistically enforced. It's even more ridiculous of a notion given how many handguns are in the US. To argue at this point whether the US should or shouldn't ban some or all type of firearms is beyond pointless. The US is not Australia.

This, exactly. Trying to clamp down more on firearms in the US would be even less effective than the prohibition was for getting rid of alcohol.
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 21:16
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 21:16
Dec 3, 2014, 21:16
 
jomisab wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 17:33:
It has always struck me as odd that the U.S. is so prudish about TV/movie content but never gives an NC-17 rating to anything that is over-the-top graphic/violent. I kind of think that will change over time however. Sex and porn are so easily accessible on the net, and in this country, that's not likely to change, which I guess is somewhat ironic.

You're more optimistic than I. When I read stats that almost half of Americans believe in Creationism, and a full third take the bible literally, I lose hope.
If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Slava Ukraini!
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 20:13
60.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 20:13
Dec 3, 2014, 20:13
 
Agent.X7 wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 19:55:
Orogogus wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 17:45:
Agent.X7 wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 16:35:
You've had 2 major massacres after the gun bans

I took a quick look at this because I thought 2 doesn't sound too bad (although it wouldn't be 0, as Wraith claimed) unless they were total mayhem with RPGs, police stations blowing up, helicopters going down in flames, the whole nine yards. These major massacres, over the past 18 years, were apparently 2 dead and 3 dead, where all the victims knew the shooter in question. I feel like by these standards we see major massacres in the US pretty damn often.

Yes, and we have a population of 300+ million, while Oz is 22 million. More people live in the state of Texas than in all of Oz.

Right; so if you increased it proportionally, we'd have gun-related double-fatality "major massacres" 14 times as often, or 28 since 1996. The actual number seems way, way higher than that. I don't know what search to use to get the exact statistic, but looking at school shootings alone I see 30+ US incidents with 2 or more fatalities in the same time period. 8 non-military workplace rampages.
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 20:06
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 20:06
Dec 3, 2014, 20:06
 
Julio wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 18:57:
I didn't buy GTA V due to the torture mini game, but I still think it has the right to be sold. I find it quite funny that a lot of the anti-GG folks play GTA V.


Well, three things here:

1) Most "anti-gg" people don't have a problem with individual games, they have a problem with trends. They want variety they feel they aren't getting

2) Even then, most "anti-gg" people don't think things "don't have a right to be sold." Some just felt that they didn't want Target selling this. They felt it didn't fit Target's standards. I think that's up to Target to decide, but they didn't petition the government to ban the game, they petitioned Target to not sell it. Kind of like how only a few GGers are petitioning the government to ban Gawker, most just think advertisers should block it out of existence

3) Making this giant fail even funnier, if you look at the signatures on the petition (the first ever to accomplish its goal?) a significant amount of them come from people saying that the petition is some stupid SJW thing. So Target looks and sees 30,000 people signed this petition. It appears a huge chunk weren't from Australia at all, and a significant portion opposed the petition. Who signs a petition they oppose? GG often makes claims of "Streisand Effect," but the main thing they've accomplished is to make people think there must be some kind of problem in games. This petition likely only got traction due to people opposing it. And, for some reason, then signing it
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 20:01
58.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 20:01
Dec 3, 2014, 20:01
 
jdreyer wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 17:07:
Did they ban The Wire too? They kill prostitutes, women, cops, and women cops undercover as prostitutes in that show.

Holy FUCK, don't even joke about banning The Wire!

Looking forward to the 9.99 Steam/GMG/Gamersgate/etc. sale on GTA V in a year or so.

*Further Offtopic: HD version of The Wire coming soon, creator of The Wire grudgingly approves of the new version.

*EDIT* Added the offtopic.
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 19:55
57.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 19:55
Dec 3, 2014, 19:55
 
Orogogus wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 17:45:
Agent.X7 wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 16:35:
You've had 2 major massacres after the gun bans

I took a quick look at this because I thought 2 doesn't sound too bad (although it wouldn't be 0, as Wraith claimed) unless they were total mayhem with RPGs, police stations blowing up, helicopters going down in flames, the whole nine yards. These major massacres, over the past 18 years, were apparently 2 dead and 3 dead, where all the victims knew the shooter in question. I feel like by these standards we see major massacres in the US pretty damn often.

Yes, and we have a population of 300+ million, while Oz is 22 million. More people live in the state of Texas than in all of Oz.
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 19:47
56.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 19:47
Dec 3, 2014, 19:47
 
Julio wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 18:57:
I find it quite funny that a lot of the anti-GG folks play GTA V.

Aren't people in this thread saying there's nothing misogynistic since violence is applied indiscriminately?
55.
 
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 19:07
Quboid
 
55.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 19:07
Dec 3, 2014, 19:07
 Quboid
 
nin wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 18:38:
Ozmodan wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 18:31:
Good for them.

For all the clueless people who said it is just a game, I feel really sorry for you failure to grasp basic humanity.

Look who crawled out from under their bridge! You're running late today!


He's (unintentionally) interesting IMHO. I think that the word "game" puts these people (the sort who make this petition) in the mind that these are supposed to be fun and if it's fun and you can kill women to get money (which is perhaps the one technically correct point they make) then the game is about killing women for fun.

To state the hopefully obvious, *I* don't agree with this AT ALL. I think that this word helps people who don't understand the medium to consider it to be trivial.

Few people would say "movies are entertainment, therefore a movie about the Holocaust is to treat that as fun, therefore Schindler's List trivialises the Holocaust" but this happens with games regularly and is essentially what is happening here - that GTA satirises life's excesses is, I suspect, so far beyond these people that they could never grasp it (which applies to many of its players too, FWTW).

Six Days In Fallujah was supposedly to be a faithful recreation of the soldiers' experiences made not just with the help of people who fought there but at their request. This could have been what This War of Mine is, entertainment that isn't fun but is compelling and moving and useful. Maybe this was all bullshit but thanks to "War Is Not A Game" protests scaring off funding, we'll never know.

I've heard the phrase "interactive experience" used in place of "game" but obviously this will never catch on. Damned if I can think of anything better. I think the ultimate cure will be time, when so much of the population does understand the medium that those who don't at least understand that they don't. This has improved a lot already in my experience, not in terms of legislation but in terms of how video games are perceived in general. I expect there was a time when people said this sort of thing about movies equivalent to Schindler's List at that time who would never have treated a book like Schindler's Ark with such disdain.
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54.
 
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 18:57
54.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 18:57
Dec 3, 2014, 18:57
 
I didn't buy GTA V due to the torture mini game, but I still think it has the right to be sold. I find it quite funny that a lot of the anti-GG folks play GTA V.
53.
 
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 18:38
nin
53.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 18:38
Dec 3, 2014, 18:38
nin
 
Ozmodan wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 18:31:
Good for them.

For all the clueless people who said it is just a game, I feel really sorry for you failure to grasp basic humanity.

Look who crawled out from under their bridge! You're running late today!

52.
 
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 18:31
52.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 18:31
Dec 3, 2014, 18:31
 
Good for them.

For all the clueless people who said it is just a game, I feel really sorry for you failure to grasp basic humanity.
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Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under
Dec 3, 2014, 18:23
51.
Re: Target Halts Grand Theft Auto V Sales Down Under Dec 3, 2014, 18:23
Dec 3, 2014, 18:23
 
Quboid wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 18:17:
eRe4s3r wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 18:09:
jdreyer wrote on Dec 3, 2014, 17:07:
Did they ban The Wire too? They kill prostitutes, women, cops, and women cops undercover as prostitutes in that show.

What about Game of Thrones? Is that banned in AUS-Land?

<snark>Those are TV shows intended for a mature audience, you can't compare them to children's toys like GTA!</snark>

The joke is Target still sells the bluray edition of Game of Thrones

So if we got 40000 fake people together we can get any item delisted from Target? I'd say we should start with cigarettes, alcohol and any vegetable. Because.. uhm, feelings are hurt!
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