The Grand Theft Auto series has come under fire for its glamorization of all manner of illegal activities. How ironic, then, that the developers the original GTA are now being accused of a committing a crime at the game's very inception.
In a Scottish court yesterday, computer consultant Mark Gallagher filed a lawsuit against Rockstar North, the Edinburgh-based GTA developer. Gallagher claims that in December 1993, he applied for a position at DMA Design, the company that would eventually go on to become Rockstar North. When called in for an interview, Gallagher brought with him a demo of Crime, Inc., a game he developed from 1991 to 1993 about gangs vying for control of a city's street crime. Gallagher claims DMA retained the disc, but did not give him the job. Four years later in 1997, DMA released the first Grand Theft Auto which, Gallagher alleges, contains many elements and ideas from Crime, Inc. He now wants 1.5 million pounds from Rockstar for "copyright infringement."
Baglow, who now runs his own PR firm, Indoctrimat, in Scotland, gave some interesting insights into the creation of the title that would launch the bestselling franchise in game history. Most notably, he said Grand Theft Auto was almost about a cop trying to stop the carjackings, robberies, murders, and other acts of mayhem players now regularly perpetrate in the game. "Deciding to play as the criminal came at the end of a very long, protracted and heated design meeting," said Baglow. "Thankfully, it worked."
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