Data-miners of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition have discovered it has the infamous “Hot Coffee” minigame in its code; lending another reason to why the game was pulled from PC by Rockstar Games.
As previously reported, dataminers have uncovered a trove of information from the PC version of the games; including removed music that was still in the game (only disabled), and original developer notes from Rockstar North. Many suspected this was the reason the Rockstar Launcher was taken offline, preventing anyone from playing the game on PC.
Rockstar stated today the launcher was back online, but that The Trilogy was still not playable or purchasable “as we remove files unintentionally included in these versions.” While the aforementioned disabled songs are the likely culprit, data-miners have discovered what could be another or the main reason; the return of the Hot Coffee files [1, 2].
The original controversy happened in 2004, when a modder discovered a cut minigame within Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The minigame was intended to be played when CJ was invited into a girlfriend’s house for “hot coffee,” engaging in sex. The assets could not be fully pulled, as a scene of (censored) oral sex in the final game utilized it. Soon, the Hot Coffee Mod was shared online, enabling it.
Politicians and parents accused Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games of attempting to subvert the ESRB and hide illicit content. This was in spite of needing third party mod to install, as the method involved changing a single bit in the game’s main game script file.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was reassessed with an Adults Only rating by the ESRB, recalled, and pulled from sale in Australia. The game was later patched to remove the minigame, along with a new version of the game released for its original M for Mature rating. Rockstar Games may have been concerned of a resurgence of the mod in The Trilogy, along with the disabled music being re-enabled.
Grand Theft Auto IV features a statue akin to the Statue of Liberty, with a face closely resembling Hillary Clinton, a senator who spear-headed implementing new regulations on video games because of the controversy. In place of a torch, the statue holds a cup of coffee.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. It is intended to be available on Windows PC (via the Rockstar Games Launcher), but is unavailable as of this time of writing. We shall keep you informed as we learn more.
