Slatoff lashes out at Australian retailers
Take-Two Interactive boss Karl Slatoff is disappointed in the Australian retailers thatrecently pulledGrand Theft Auto Vfrom shelves in response to a consumer petition.
Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets 2014 Technology & Digital Media Conference today, Slatoff said it’s completely understandable “for someone to not want to buy a piece of content … If you don’t like it and it’s offensive to you, then you don’t buy it.
“But for a person or a group of people to try to make that decision for millions of people —We have 34 million people who boughtGrand Theft Auto, and if [the petitioners] had their way, none of those people would be able to buyGrand Theft Auto. And that really just flies in the face of everything that free society is based on.“
Slatoff went on to criticize the decision as slippery slope to limiting freedom of expression, despite asserting it had essentially no impact on Take-Two’s business. “At the end of the day though, it’s not something you want because it’s a poor leadership decision.”
