Apparently, Rockstar can dish it, but they can’t take it. The company has already made complaints to Electronic Arts about the Grand Theft Scratchy parody in the upcoming Simpsons Game. Rockstar has even gone so far as to request that content be removed from the final release.
Game designer Greg Rizzer had this to say about Rockstar’s response:
"I was always under the impression that when you do parody, it’s a sign of respect… If we make fun of Grand Theft Auto, we’re not going to hurt the sales of Grand Theft Auto… But yeah, we’ve definitely had some reactions – we’ve had to pull stuff from the game"
Guitar Hero creators Harmonix have a completely different outlook on The Simpsons Game. Rizzer describes their correspondence as much more amicable:
"I don’t know if you’ve seen Sitar Hero? We did Apu playing this 60-button controller and songs like Pour Some Curry On Me – we made this wonderful parody poster and the guys from Harmonix loved it and we sent them 20 copies of the poster. They just loved it so much."
I’m surprised that Rockstar could be so sensitive, after all they’ve put into their own games. This really just makes them look like a bunch of babies.
