Now that Australia finally has an R18+ rating, we head back to look at the most infamous banned game of all. Manhunt‘s mixed reception and bland sales meant that it caught everyone by surprise when it suddenly became the most controversial game ever released, seemingly almost directly responsible for the murder of a young boy. Now, ten years on, Manhunt is still so controversial that literally nobody was willing to speak on the record about their experiences developing, managing or selling the game. David Rayfield looks back in time.

For a long time, the Grand Theft Auto series has been the go-to example for people pointing out the eeeeevil of video games. The ‘Hot Coffee’ controversy is the biggest example of this. Speaking with The Guardian however, Dan Houser — writer, producer and VP at Rockstar — described the time as “draining and upsetting,” and “a tough time in the company”.

The sky hasn’t fallen, though and the world keeps turning, despite the media outcry to think of the children. “The massive social decay that we were supposed to induce hasn’t happened,” Houser said. “So in that regard, a lot of those debates that used to go on, they’re not such a big deal now. We never felt that we were being attacked for the content, we were being attacked for the medium, which felt a little unfair. If all of this stuff had been put into a book or a movie, people wouldn’t have blinked an eye. And there are far bigger issues to worry about in society than this.”

Source: Kotaku