Red Dead Redemption 2 now has a Hot Coffee mod, and if you're over a certain age, you'll immediately understand why Take-Two isn't happy about it.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas players once discovered a sex mini-game in the game which Rockstar had hidden from the retail release. Dubbed "Hot Coffee," it involved protagonist CJ (Grove Street 4 Life) being invited inside to his girlfriend's house "for coffee."
The discovery gave birth to a new panic about video games, as parents everywhere were horrified to learn a game called "Grand Theft Auto," which involves killing cops, robbing stores, and beating pedestrians, and which in many cases they bought for their kids despite its Mature rating, may also include nudity. The horror!
The euphemism of "Hot Coffee" has since lived in infamy and it remains strong in Red Dead Redemption 2 today thanks to modders who have recreated the scene in the wild west. Now it's Arthur Morgan (van der Linde Gang 4 Life) who is treated to "coffee" with a sex worker. Not wanting to sit idly while controversy resumes, Take-Two has reportedly issued a takedown to the modders responsible for the bonus content.
Speaking to PCGamesN, one of the modders, username Unlosing, confirmed that he and his collaborators have been challenged by Rockstar's parent company to remove the mod.
"I was a bit surprised and didn’t expect Take-Two to worry about a single-player mod this much,” he said. “I find it crazy how Rockstar Games can add hookers to its games, but when someone uploads a mod (not even of the same quality) it’s suddenly ‘inappropriate’. The mod doesn’t contain any nudity or nude models, and only uses assets that are still in the game. The animations are from the drunk bar mission with Lenny (which are still in the game), and the ‘moaning’ noises are simply the sounds the [character models] make when they get injured. Also, they mention ‘online services’, however this mod is only available for single-player. To answer your question: no, I don’t think it’s fair.”
In 2005, the discovery of the original Hot Coffee mod led to the ESRB to change San Andreas' rating to Adults-Only. A would-be kiss of death even for Rockstar, it got the game pulled from stores until the studio issued a new version with no way to access the buried content. It's been 15 years, and the world is more understanding that video games are allowed to involve the same raunchy content as any other medium, but it seems Take-Two would rather dodge this bullet all the same.
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