UK tabloid admits Grand Theft Auto story was completely false

There is a lot of misinformation out there about videogames. To let anti-game activists tell it, games are responsible for everything from low standardized test scores to the fall of the Roman Empire. That’s why it’s disturbing that United Kingdom tabloid The Daily Star has admitted a reporter completely made up a July 21, 2010, story about Grand Theft Auto.

That story claimed that Rockstar Games was working on Grand Theft Auto: Rothbury, a game the Star said was based on the six-day crime spree of Raoul Moat, who killed one person and injured three others earlier this month. The Star even interviewed relatives of Moat’s shooting victims and doctored up a potential cover for the game.

Rockstar has never portrayed anything other than fictional characters committing crimes in its GTA games, so this story sounded ridiculous to begin with. After days of intense scrutiny and no doubt some legal action as well, the Star finally caved in. It did not, however, give any explanation as to how this complete fiction got put into the paper as if it were true. The Star also said it paid a “substantial” amount to Rockstar Games, which the company donated to charity.

Jerry Lawton, the reporter (and I’m using this term loosely) who wrote this story doesn’t share his paper’s contrition. He took to his Facebook account to poke fun at adult gamers who he said had “chosen to enter the real world long enough to complain about my story slamming a Raoul Moat version of Grand Theft Auto!”

Read [The Daily Star] Also Read [CVG]