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Title: Video Games Weekly: Grand Theft Auto is no friend to the queer
community

Date: Tue, 27 May 2025 19:30:59 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/gaming/video-games-w...

Welcome to the initial installment of Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Expect
a new story every Monday (yes, we realize today is Tuesday), broken into two
parts. The first is a space for short essays, observations and ramblings
about video game trends and related topics from me, a reporter who's covered
the industry for more than 13 years. The second contains the video game
stories from the past week that you need to know about, including some
headlines from outside of Engadget.

Please enjoy ΓÇö and I'll see you next week.

IΓÇÖve noticed a growing sentiment in some of my favorite queer gaming forums
regarding Grand Theft Auto VI, and itΓÇÖs both making me laugh and causing me
deep anxiety about the malleable nature of our shared reality. When the
second trailer for GTA VI dropped on May 6, one of its protagonists, Jason,
became an instant sex symbol among the gays, and the thirsty memes started
rolling in. This was light-hearted and fun, but at the same time, the alt-
right gaming crowd was freaking out about Jason being too gay ΓÇö even
though, canonically, heΓÇÖs clearly a straight dude. Queer players accused
the neo-Nazis of projection, and the memes exalting Jason as a gay icon
ramped up, until, somewhere along the way, it stopped being a joke. I started
to see earnest comments suggesting the GTA franchise was a bastion of
inclusion and an outspoken friend to the LGBT+ community. I saw queer players
talk about GTA VI as if it were going to be a warm and welcoming space,
something made for us.

And I oop ΓÇö that is some serious grand theft gaslighting, friends.

IΓÇÖm not here to burst any bubbles, and I sincerely hope that GTA VI
presents well-rounded, diverse characters with thoughtful storylines.
However, when it comes to queer issues, thatΓÇÖs just not what the series
does. GTA has a history of perpetuating harmful stereotypes about transgender
people in particular, and GTA V specifically provided a platform for players
to enact violence against trans characters.

I covered this topic in-depth in 2020, and at the time I spoke with Dr. Ben
Colliver, a lecturer in criminology at Birmingham City University and the
author of ΓÇ£Representation of LGBTQ Communities in the Grand Theft Auto
Series.ΓÇ¥ Violence against trans people in the United States has long been
recognized as an epidemic, and in 2025, the situation is worse than ever ΓÇö
lawmakers are legalizing transphobia and shutting down access to gender-
affirming care, using trans lives as a political football. ItΓÇÖs a bad time
for the LGBT+ community to have false friends, which is one reason I cringe
when I see people rewriting the history of GTA.

Ugly stereotypes and targeted violence are part of GTAΓÇÖs DNA, so the common
argument here is that, actually, the series punches in all directions and
that means it isnΓÇÖt discriminatory. But, this take doesnΓÇÖt hold up to
scrutiny. Dr. ColliverΓÇÖs analysis found that straight, cis men in GTA games
remain largely unscathed, and characters who represent oppressed groups are
often the ones used as punchlines.

ΓÇ£Largely it is LGBT people, sex workers and women who are portrayed in a
bad way,ΓÇ¥ Dr. Colliver said in 2020. ΓÇ£Typically, men in the game conform
to almost these traditional masculine stereotypes that we expect of men
around violence and aggression.ΓÇ¥

The only subject that GTA really takes seriously is masculinity, and even
then it approaches the topic from a basic lens. GTA presents mainstream
straight-male power fantasies with a Michael Bay flair and a teenage sense of
edginess, and GTA VI looks to be more of the same. ThatΓÇÖs even with the
inclusion of a female protagonist ΓÇö Lucia, who is very much involved with
Jason, who is actually straight-coded despite appealing massively to gay men,
which I believe was a total accident on RockstarΓÇÖs part.

(And because I can hear your screams from here: Yes, The Ballad of Gay Tony
exists and itΓÇÖs a fine piece of DLC for GTA IV focused on a queer
character. The thing is, it came out 16 years ago ΓÇö before Rockstar built
trans violence into GTA V ΓÇö and even though it was incredibly well-
received, the studio has yet to return to its blueprint. I find that fact
more telling than anything else.)

GTA is a non-subversive franchise built for basic bros, and this fact is only
reinforced by the homogeneity of Rockstar Games and the complacency of its
parent company, Take-Two Interactive. We donΓÇÖt have data about queer
representation at Rockstar, but at Rockstar North in 2024, women composed
less than 12 percent of employees in the highest-paid roles. Across the
studio, womenΓÇÖs average hourly pay was 43 percent lower than menΓÇÖs. In
its annual investor report filed this month, Take-Two removed all references
to diversity and inclusion, and deleted any mention of awards the company has
received for supporting LGBT+ employees. These moves are intended to appease
President Donald Trump, and itΓÇÖs the exact type of spineless, bootlicking
behavior that the GTA series is supposed to mock.

Personally I love doing crimes and messing with cops, and as it turns out, so
do most other video game fans. This mass-appeal ethos has helped make GTA one
of the industryΓÇÖs most enduring franchises. Please, just donΓÇÖt bank on
GTA VI being progressive or actively inclusive from a queer standpoint. We
donΓÇÖt need another reason to be disappointed nowadays.

More than that, we canΓÇÖt let the alt-right reality consume our own. The
people complaining about Jason being too gay are the same ones claiming that
WidowΓÇÖs ass isnΓÇÖt visible enough in her Overwatch 2 Cammy skin ΓÇö they
are unserious people making bad-faith arguments about games as an art form.
Do not absorb their messaging and do not engage with their lies. Think
critically about their angles of attack and, meanwhile, play all the queer
games you want to. One of my personal recent favorites is Sorry WeΓÇÖre
Closed, if youΓÇÖre looking for a sexy, campy place to start.

The news Night School nabs Obsidian veteran Carrie Patel

Avowed director and longtime Obsidian narrative lead Carrie Patel has joined
Night School, the studio behind the Oxenfree series, as a game director. This
is a big get for Night School and a sign that the team has some stability in
its future. Netflix acquired Night School in 2021, before the launch of
Oxenfree 2 and as part of the streaming companyΓÇÖs big push into video game
development and publishing. Netflix has since closed one internal AAA studio
and reduced its third-party output, but it seems Night School is secure and
working on something story-heavy, if PatelΓÇÖs involvement tells us anything.

The first video game included in Cannes

Lili made history in May as the first video game to be included in a Cannes
Festival competition, and it looks super rad. Lili is a contemporary, neo-
noir interpretation of Macbeth, presented in full-motion video and set on the
streets of Iran, featuring webs of government corruption and witches who work
as hackers. ItΓÇÖs a collaboration between the Royal Shakespeare Company and
iNK Stories, the studio behind the award-winning game 1979 Revolution: Black
Friday. Lili is already on the festival circuit but itΓÇÖs still in
development, and itΓÇÖs due to be publicly available in or just after late
2025.

Troubles are bubbling at Bungie around Marathon

Bungie only revealed Marathon in April, but the game is already enduring a
rocky pre-launch period. First, the studio had to publicly apologize and
review all of its Marathon assets after it was confirmed that the gameΓÇÖs
alpha included stolen artwork. Then, Forbes dropped a report documenting the
current tensions at Bungie, saying morale at the studio was in ΓÇ£free
fallΓÇ¥ across every department. The most recent rumblings around Marathon,
which is due to land in September, are that its marketing plans have been
scuttled completely.

GeoGuessr ditches the EWC after a brief protest

GeoGuessr will no longer be included in the Esports World Cup after a quick
ΓÇö and clearly effective ΓÇö community blackout. The most prolific GeoGuessr
map creators pulled their contributions from the game to protest its
participation in the EWC, calling the tournament ΓÇ£a sportswashing tool used
by the government of Saudi Arabia to distract from and conceal its horrific
human rights record.ΓÇ¥ Less than a day after the blackout began, GeoGuessr
AB responded by abandoning the event, writing, ΓÇ£You ΓÇö our community ΓÇö
have made it clear that this decision does not align with what GeoGuessr
stands for. So, when you tell us weΓÇÖve got it wrong we take it
seriously.ΓÇ¥

FTC admits defeat against Microsoft

The FTC was the last remaining voice rallying against MicrosoftΓÇÖs
acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and itΓÇÖs now been silenced for good.
The FTC officially dismissed its case against Microsoft after losing its
latest appeal earlier this month.

A reminder that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a very good game

In a cute moment of serendipity, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has sold 3.3
million copies in its first 33 days on the market. If you were waiting for a
sign to start playing, this might be it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/gaming/video-games-w...
friend-to-the-queer-community-193059427.html?src=rss

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