Russia threatens to ban GTA 6 unless this 'immoral content' is removed
One major leaked detail from Grand Theft Auto 6 has riled up a major global power, as Russia has threatened to ban the game completely unless developer Rockstar Games removes the 'immoral content' present in-game.
The Grand Theft Auto series has made a name for itself through it's often provocative and satirical content, and has never been afraid to push boundaries and poke fun at everything and anything.
It's even thrown shots at major figures like Elon Musk in recent games – even if the man himself might not approve of the similarities – yet one relatively 'risqué' piece of content that's allegedly present in the upcoming release of GTA 6 has angered one of the world's most powerful nations.
As reported by Dexerto, a key Russian official has declared that GTA 6 could end up being banned if a piece of 'immoral content' isn't removed from the game ahead of release, depriving 146 million people from a game that many have waited over 13 years to play.
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The 'immortal' content in question relates to the rumored inclusion of male strippers for the first time, which emerged as part of a major leak that Rockstar itself confirmed following the dismissal of several Rockstar North employees.
Strip clubs have been present in the series since the very first entry back in 1997, and they've been something that players can directly interact with in every game since Vice City.
However, if the leaks are indeed true then GTA 6 would be the first game to offer strippers of the male variety, as it didn't make sense before to omit them from the series.
That has angered Mikhail Ivanov though, as the deputy chairman of the World Russian People's Council has threatened to prevent the release of the game in Russia if this isn't removed, or an alternative 'sanitized' version of the game isn't offered.
Speaking in an interview with News.ru, Ivanov declared: "The creators of GTA 6 deliberately go to include destructive and vulgar content in their product, completely unacceptable to the moral health of society.
"This includes the planned inclusion of scenes of male striptease in the game, which is a direct and cynical violation of basic moral norms and traditional spiritual values."
Of course, there's no mention of violence, murder, or other strippers when it comes to this 'violation' of moral norms, with Ivanov arguing that "the admission of such content is tantamount to the growth of the younger generation."
He called on Rockstar Games to release "special, cleaned of immoral content versions for our market," but considering the nature of the series as a whole, it's unlikely that the developer will compromise its vision in any way — although it did recently prohibit politically-charged user content from its online services.