LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The city of Los Angeles has sued Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) for selling pornographic video games to children with its best-selling game “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” which last year was found to have hidden sex scenes.
Los Angeles City Attorney Rockard Delgadillo, in the suit filed on Thursday, accused the game publisher of failing to disclose the pornographic content to get the game onto shelves of major retailers that do not carry games rated “Adults Only 18+.”
Delgadillo said the company further deceived consumers by first claiming that hackers had modified the original version of the games, then announcing a week later that the sex scenes were written into the original game code.
The lawsuit demands that Take-Two and Rockstar Games, the subsidiary behind “Grand Theft Auto,” one of the best-selling in video game franchises history, stop marketing the games to children, pay fines and return $10 million in profits.
Shares of Take-Two plunged 18.4 percent to $13.90 on the Nasdaq in late morning trade, after earlier hitting an almost three-year low of $13.68,