FTC and Rockstar Settle (Finally)

Rockstar Games and the Federal Trade Commission have issued an announcement stating that the FTC has come to a unanimous decision to approve its Consent Order with Rockstar. Last month, the FTC drafted an agreement stating that in all of its products Rockstar must fully disclose any content that would fall under the jurisdiction of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, or pay civil fines of $11,000 per violation. In the case of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox, PC), the game that spawned the Hot Coffee controversy, no fines or penalties have been issued on the part of the FTC. The FTC ruled 5-0 in favor of approving that agreement and put it up for a month of public comment, which has now passed and allowed it to become final.

All outstanding matters pending before the FTC have been settled and no penalties or fines have been assessed. Among other things, the Consent Order provides that the Company shall not misrepresent a video game's ratings or content descriptors and that the Company shall implement a system to ensure that all game content is reviewed in connection with submissions to ratings authorities.