Take-Two settles Hot Coffee lawsuit

Author: Tim Smalley
Published: 9th November 2007

If all goes to Take-Two's plan then it looks like someone may finally finish this Hot Coffee off. Ha.

Man, that Hot Coffee lawsuit has been going on a long time. Personally, I was sure the whole thing was done and dusted ages ago but it seems I was wrong - the case is only now coming to a proposed close.

The class action lawsuit, which began in 2005 when Take-Two was sued for not disclosing a sexual mini-game to content raters and allowing the product to go to market with the content still accessible to modders, may now reach an end though. Take-Two has proposed a settlement in order to knock things on the head.

The settlement, which has not yet been approved by the court, has a number of conditions though - the most important of which is that Take-Two and Rockstar Games both avoid liability and make no admittance of wrongdoing.

Consumers will be able to swap copies of the game for re-rated versions if they choose, switching from an M rating to an AO rating in America. If they wish they can also provide proof of purchase to get a $35 cash payment.

Take-Two has, according to GI.biz agreed to spend at least $1 Million in settlement benefits, with a total expenditure capped at $2.75 Million, not including legal fees.

"If the case had continued, we believe the court would have agreed that Take-Two was not liable for consumers acting independently to modify their games with third-party hardware and software to access normally inaccessible content." said Take-Two CEO Ben Feder.

A bold statement - but what do you think? Let us know in the forums.