City Attorney Sues Maker of ‘Grand Theft Auto’

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. was sued by Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo, who said the video game maker failed to disclose that its “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” game contained “pornographic” content.

Take-Two used “deceptive marketing practices and fraudulent manipulation of an industry rating system” to sell the game as “mature” rated while it should have been marketed as “adults only,” Delgadillo said in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“Grand Theft Auto,” Take-Two’s bestselling video game, received an adults-only rating in July after hackers discovered secret sexual content that could be unlocked with key codes distributed over the Internet. U.S. lawmakers have asked the Federal Trade Commission to examine the publication of the game, in which players can run a strip club, assault others in drive-by shootings and steal cars.

Take-Two board member Barbara Kaczynski quit over indecent images that appeared in “Grand Theft Auto” games and management’s responses to her concerns, according to a letter filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Shares of Take-Two fell 73 cents to $17.03. They have dropped 27% in 12 months.

A spokesman for New York-based Take-Two didn’t return a call to his office.