Hot Coffee (minigame)
While it was not playable in the official game release, the modding community discovered hidden code that, when enabled, allows protagonist Carl "CJ" Johnson to have animated sexual intercourse with his in-game girlfriend.
Rockstar Games president Sam Houser wanted to include more role-playing elements in San Andreas while also pushing the Grand Theft Auto series' controversial reputation.
"Hot Coffee" reappeared in future Rockstar Games releases: A similar mod for Red Dead Redemption 2 was posted on Nexus Mods in 2020 and subsequently taken down by Rockstar Games, while 2021's Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, which includes a remaster of San Andreas, was briefly removed from sale after data miners discovered the code associated with "Hot Coffee".
[9] In the unmodified version of the game, the player hears muffled sexual sounds from inside the house, while the camera remains outside the front door and no explicit content is visible.
Both characters remain clothed as the player is instructed to "push the left analog stick up and down in rhythm", which increases CJ's progress on a bar graph labelled "Excitement".
Upon its 2001 release, the graphic violence and sexual content in the game were met with controversy from politicians and other public figures such as Joe Lieberman and Jack Thompson.
[13] Both Grand Theft Auto III and its sequel Vice City received commercial success but faced scrutiny, particularly among those concerned about the impact of violent video games on children.
[13] In an interview with 1Up.com prior to the release of San Andreas, Houser told reporters that the game was the "official conclusion to a trilogy" preceded by Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City.
[16] Houser and the creative team at Rockstar North faced two major challenges in the development of San Andreas: First, they wanted to implement more role-playing elements without turning the series "uber-nerdy".
[4]: 189 Unable to enact any major edits to the console's source code, modders instead accessed the file formats, planning the mods they would create for the Windows version upon its release.
[12] Wildenborg was based in the Netherlands, where San Andreas would be released on Windows and the Xbox three days later than in North America, so he collaborated with a modder in the United States to gain early access to the game files.
[12][17] On the day it was released, Houser discovered the "Hot Coffee" minigame by browsing Grand Theft Auto message boards where it was being discussed.
[4]: 203–208 On 7 July 2005, Leland Yee, the speaker pro tempore of the California State Senate, issued a press release condemning the ESRB for not providing San Andreas with an AO rating for its violence and the explicit sexual activity in the "Hot Coffee" minigame.
[19] On the following day, while Vance criticised Yee for his "crusade ... to undermine the integrity of the ESRB", she also announced that the Board had opened an investigation into "the circumstances surrounding the 'Hot Coffee' modification".
[20] On 12 July, meanwhile, the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) announced that it was opening its own investigation into the game at the request of Philip Ruddock, the Attorney-General of Australia.
[21] While "Hot Coffee" had been popular among the Grand Theft Auto modding community upon its release, Yee's comments drew the public's attention to the minigame.
[25] As a result, major retailers such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Circuit City announced that they would immediately cease all sales of San Andreas for as long as it was rated AO.
[27][28] In response to the re-ratings, Take-Two suspended all production of San Andreas until they could release a version of the game that prohibited access to "Hot Coffee".
[33] Clinton further declared that she would begin work on a bill that would make it a federal crime, accompanied by a mandatory US$5,000 fine, to sell violent or sexually explicit video games to individuals under the age of 18.
[49][50] At the time of the "Hot Coffee" controversy, Take-Two was already under investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on charges of insider trading involving company founder and chairman Ryan Brant.
[12][51] On 17 February 2006, Take-Two shareholders filed a class action lawsuit alleging that the company's mishandling of various financial aspects had caused a direct, negative impact on their earnings.
[12] This suit was settled on 2 September 2009, with Take-Two agreeing to pay over $20 million and enact changes to corporate governance policies and practices that would protect investors from future such issues.
By refusing to publicly comment on the ongoing scandal, Rockstar Games was accused of cowardice by Lowenstein, who said, "If you want to be controversial, that's great ... but then don't duck and cover when the shit hits the fan.
[4]: 273 In the year after San Andreas was reissued, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was re-rated from "T" ("Teen 13+") to M after the ESRB discovered "more detailed depictions of blood and gore than were considered in the original rating", as well as a locked skin which, if modded, allowed female characters to appear topless.
[57] Responding to both the Grand Theft Auto and Elder Scrolls incidents, the ESRB testified before the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that after that point, manufacturers who failed to disclose mature or explicit content would be punished with fines up to $1 million.
[60][61] In June 2006, Take-Two cancelled Snow, a real-time strategy game about illegal drug trade that had been in production at its Frog City Software studio.
While the publisher provided no reason for this decision, it was believed that it stemmed from the "increased political pressure" Take-Two was under, partially brought about by the "Hot Coffee" scandal.
[66] Grand Theft Auto IV has an obtainable in-game achievement called "Warm Coffee", the criteria being to get protagonist Niko Bellic successfully invited inside a girlfriend's home for sex.
[54] The "Hot Coffee" scandal was mentioned again upon the 2014 release of Grand Theft Auto V, in which players could engage in sexual activity with prostitutes from a first-person perspective.
