Take-Two Sues BBC Over Forthcoming GTA Drama

Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, filed a lawsuit against the BBC earlier today over the channel’s in-development drama about the rise of Rockstar and its infamous game franchise, Grand Theft Auto.

Take-Two released the following statement to Polygon regarding its lawsuit:

Take-Two Interactive has filed suit against the BBC for trademark infringement based on their movie currently titled ‘Game Changer’ as it relates to Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto video game series.

While holders of the trademarks referenced in the film title and its promotion, Rockstar Games has had no involvement with this project. Our goal is to ensure that our trademarks are not misused in the BBC’s pursuit of an unofficial depiction of purported events related to Rockstar Games. We have attempted multiple times to resolve this matter with the BBC without any meaningful resolution. It is our obligation to protect our intellectual property and unfortunately in this case litigation was necessary.

The 90-minute BBC Two show, Gamechanger, is currently being written by Rev scribe James Wood, directed by Owen Harris, with Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe in negotiations to play Sam Houser, the co-founder of Rockstar Games. The BBC describes the story as “arguably the greatest British coding success since Bletchley Park”:

“Unlike many coding success stories, Grant Theft Auto was not created in Silicon Valley — it was the brainchild of a bunch of British gaming geniuses who had known each other since their school days. In autumn 2013 its latest iteration — GTA:V — earned $1bn in its first three days, becoming the fastest selling entertainment product in history.

“GTA offered gamers the chance to step into a fantasy world where they could behave like criminals, gun down rival gangsters and cops, hijack cars and venture deeper into an imaginary American gangland underworld.

“But the violent gameplay coupled with its outstanding success led to fierce opposition: from parents worried about children immersing themselves in such a violent world; from politicians, alarmed at the values it encourages; and above all from moral-campaigners, who have fought passionately to stop it.

“Grand Theft Auto tells the story of how the game was conceived and created and the subsequent fallout as various groups objected to its violent gameplay.”

Thank you Polygon for providing us with this information.