Red Dead Redemption 2 Modders Are Causing An Uproar
A controversial new mod for Red Dead Redemption 2 has Rockstar Games pretty riled up, and for good reason. While many Red Dead modders are content to add new weaponry or costume changes to to the game (and others are nefarious money-stealing hackers), these folks have added an explicit mini-game that recalls one of Rockstar's greatest controversies of all time.
In short, it appears as though Rockstar simply can't get away from Hot Coffee. If that sounds like a bit of incomprehensible word salad, then you may not remember the massive controversy that arose in the mid-2000s thanks to a seemingly-innocent request for a cup of joe.
In 2005, some curious fans of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas discovered an adult mini-game that had been disabled before the final release of the game. In this part of the game, lead protagonist CJ could go into his girlfriends' house and "spend some alone time" with her.
The mini-game was still in San Andreas' code, however, so the "Hot Coffee" mod was released, allowing players of the PC version of San Andreas to access that mini-game and enjoy the explicit activities for themselves. The name for the mod stems from the lines of dialogue spoken between characters in the released version of the game that covered up the original point where the mini-game took place. Rather than seeing the deed, players were greeted to a short exchange wherein CJ's lady would ask if he wanted to step inside for a cup of coffee. That's code, y'all.
The Red Dead Redemption 2 "Hot Coffee" mod takes a very different tactic, however. While San Andreas already had the mini-game and it just needed to be unblocked, this new mod manipulates animations and sounds that are already in the game to its own seedy ends. It gets pretty lonely on the range, so Unlosing, the creator of the mod, apparently decided to give Arthur a chance to partake in some adult activities — besides the extremely adult activities of gunfights and bank robberies, of course.
Naturally, Rockstar doesn't find any of this amusing. According to a report from PCGamesN, the publisher's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, have threatened Unlosing with legal action unless the mod is taken down. However, it appears that Unlosing intends to live up to his name and is refusing to back down as of this writing.
"I was a bit surprised and didn't expect Take-Two to worry about a single-player mod this much," Unlosing explained to PCGamesN. "The mod ... only uses assets that are still in the game."
Unlosing also pointed out a perceived bit of hypocrisy on Rockstar's part. He mentions the fact that the Red Dead Redemption games are already full adult content of all kinds, so it didn't make sense to him that his mod would be targeted in such a way.
"To answer your question: no, I don't think it's fair," added Unlosing.
As of right now, the mod is still available from NexusMods, where we've found plenty of interesting mods in the past (Shaggy in Jump Force, for example). It remains to be seen how long the mod will last with the pressure from Take-Two, but those who are interested can find it there.
While it's easy to think that Rockstar and Take-Two are simply overreacting, one simply has to remember how bad of a look the original Hot Coffee controversy was for Rockstar Games. It's totally understandable why Take-Two would be so adamant in its desire to have the offending mod removed. The original Hot Coffee mod caused an insane uproar, overshadowing pretty much every other terrible thing that the GTA series had forced us to do over the years. Senate investigations were launched, as well as lawsuits alleging that Rockstar had knowingly allowed the sequence to be sold to customers. The game was re-rated from "M for Mature" to "AO for Adults Only". This re-rating was eventually repealed when Rockstar released an update that permanently wiped the Hot Coffee sequence from the game, but the damage to their reputation had been done.
The Grand Theft Auto series was always controversial, but this blow-up had put it in the crosshairs of several angry groups. Whether or not you agree with Take-Two's threats of legal action, it does make a lot of sense why the company would go this route. It's obvious that Rockstar doesn't want a repeat of this fiasco, or even for folks to be reminded of it. There's already a whole generation of GTA players who will never look at a coffee mug the same way again.