Rockstar Games hires legal team, discovers geographic location names exempt from copyright law

Interesting news from Rockstar Games’ New York City office today, news that gives insight into one of the developer’s most consistent and baffling design choices. It turns out the company’s executive team had no idea they’re legally free to use specific location names in their games.

In a statement released this afternoon Dan Houser, Vice President of Creativity, said, “We’ve always had lawyers at the ready to defend us from the countless lawsuits brought our way by disgruntled parents, but now that we’ve got a legal team in house to look at our products we’re learning a lot. For instance, city names like Miami, New York, and Los Angeles are absolutely fair game. This is what happens when you assume.”


When reached for comment, Rockstar’s lead in-house attorney Tempe Wright had this to say, “I don’t know who told my client they couldn’t use the proper names of cities, but they were wrong. I also don’t know who suggested Vice City would be a close enough approximation for Miami. Liberty City and San Andreas I get, but Vice City? That’s a stretch.”

Responding to comments that this revelation might mean changes for future titles in the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead series, Houser remarked, “Nah. Using real locations might be legal, sensible, and more relatable to gamers- but we’re sticking with fake, arbitrary city names. We here at Rockstar Games feel we’ve got a winning formula. This is also why we’ve used the same obtuse auto-aim system since Grand Theft Auto 3. I mean, you’re the ones still buying this stuff.” Apparently in an effort to emphasize his point, Houser gestured towards a cartoonish bag of money.

You have to admit; he's got a point.