Take Two Settles "Hot Coffee" Lawsuit for $35 a Person

That class action lawsuit against Take Two over the infamous “hot coffee” mini-game in GTA: San Andreas has apparently been settled. The company won’t suffer any legal penalties if they provide benefits to “class members” (i.e. anyone who bought the game before July 20, 2005). If a person purchased this game during that time and swears they were offended by possible “hot coffee” mod, they can exchange their copy for a decaf version that omits the unlockable naughty bits. They can even get a cash refund of up to $35 if they can provide proof of purchase. Take Two has already allotted $1.025 million towards the settlement.

“If the case had continued, we believe the court would have agreed that Take-Two was not liable for consumers acting independently to modify their games with third-party hardware and software to access normally inaccessible content,” said Ben Feder, Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two. “Nonetheless, we believe it is in the best interest of the Company to avoid protracted and costly litigation to prove our case and to finally put this matter behind us.”

Basically, they’re saying it’s cheaper to pay off a settlement and be done with it than go through all the legal hurdles, even though they think they’re in the right. Still, I’m sure plenty of people out there can get mighty offended to the tune of $35. I’ll be keeping my “hot coffee” version of the game so it can be enjoyed by future generations.

http://news.filefront.com/category/gamer-life/game-related-laws/page/2/