Grand Theft Auto 5 Expanded & Enhanced was released recently and promised a next-gen experience of the classic title, but some fans may notice a couple of small details missing; some controversial content has been removed from this remastered version of the game, causing this new iteration to be different from the original and PS4/Xbox One editions. These changes come alongside an assortment of upgrades to the game, upgrades that can be felt through things like GTA 5's ridiculously fast PS5 load times.
The Grand Theft Auto franchise, and Rockstar Games as a whole, is no stranger to controversy. Since the series gained popularity in the early 2000s, it has been on the receiving end of criticism owing to its crude narrative content, hyper-violent gameplay, and exaggerated, sometimes obnoxious, character portrayals. Grand Theft Auto 5, while seemingly less controversial, still received some criticism from people concerned about the game's depiction of violence, discrimination, and general antisocial behavior such as Trevor's aggressive and non-ethical sexual activities.
Subsequent rereleases of the 2013 open-world crime game have kept the original experience intact, mostly offering performance enhancements or minor visual or technical improvements. While this approach to re-releasing the game has yielded mixed receptions, with the most recent GTA 5 remaster getting Rockstar branded "soulless", there have been some more substantial changes made. One of these more notable changes, as noticed by outlets such as Eurogamer and Reddit users like JayProspero, is the removal of transphobic content.
What Rockstar Removed from GTA 5 & Why
Grand Theft Auto 5's online component, known simply as GTA Online, features interactive arcades with action figures of Captain Spacetoy, a fictional sci-fi hero within the GTA universe. In the original GTA 5, this figure was shown wearing a hot pink outfit, and its box proudly boasted the feature of "interchangeable genitalia". In the current-gen remaster, Captain Spacetoy's outfit has been changed to one of more muted colors, and the "genitalia" message has been changed to a note advertising the toy's "posable vomit direction".
In this same vein, Rockstar also removed NPCs referred to as "drag queens" and "transvestites" within the game's Director Mode and PC files, respectively. The game also seems to have removed certain lines of dialogue from GTA 5's single-player protagonists regarding hormone treatments. These changes follow last year's open letter from gaming LGBTQ+ support organization Out Making Games to Rockstar, in which they urged the gaming company to remove transphobic elements from GTA 5.
Rockstar seems to have cut these pieces of content in an attempt to make the world of Grand Theft Auto 5 more inclusive and less offensive to LGBTQIA+ players. These inclusions may be seen as misrepresentative and perpetuating harmful stereotypes. So while Rockstar opted to remove these details from Grand Theft Auto 5 Expanded and Enhanced, making them a bit different from the original, the changes ultimately seem to be for the better.
Source: Eurogamer, JayProspero/Reddit