10 Video Game Secrets That Broke The Law
5. Hot Coffee - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
There's surely no video game Easter egg more infamous than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' Hot Coffee mini-game, in which players could have sex with their in-game girlfriends.
Now to be clear, the mini-game was actually removed from San Andreas by Rockstar prior to the game's release.
Or rather, it wasn't made readily accessible, yet it remained embedded within the game's code, ensuring that modders were able to activate it once San Andreas was released on PC in 2005.
The discovery of Hot Coffee caused a massive PR backlash for Rockstar, who had sold the game as an "M for Mature" release, yet the ability to access the sexually graphic mini-game effectively meant that the original ESRB rating was inaccurate and Rockstar was in major legal hot water.
As such, the ESRB promptly gave San Andreas a new "Adults Only" rating, prompting many major American retailers to pull it from sale, forcing Rockstar to release a re-issue with the mini-game fully removed.
Beyond that, Rockstar received a warning from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for allowing Hot Coffee to be accessed, and a class action lawsuit was even filed by customers who felt misled by the "Mature" rating.
It also led to the ESRB instituting a $1 million fine for game developers who concealed undisclosed graphic content within their games.