The hype around Grand Theft Auto VI is difficult to overestimate. The game, expected on November 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S after two delays and eight years since the last great release of Rockstar, Red Dead Redemption 2, promises a revolutionary experience. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, has never disclosed the game’s development costs and refused to provide a figure to Fortune earlier this year. However, an evaluation conducted by the Zero1 Gaming gaming platform estimates a combined development and marketing budget of approximately $2 billion, making GTA VI the most expensive video game ever made. Newzoo projections indicate that the game could generate between $3.25 and $5.2 billion in its first week, based on pre-order preliminary data. Also some employers are already planning around the launch: a U.S. Army unit even offers days of vacation to play. The controversy concerns the use by Rockstar Games of the city of Miami-Dade County as a setting of the game, which recalls the famous Vice City of the original title. The publisher is proposing several promotional initiatives on the territory, including a “Vice City Airport” arrival experience at Miami International Airport, Metromover vehicles with game graphics, a mural at PortMiami, custom manhole covers in the city center and Brickell, and a festival on automotive culture in Tropical Park. The mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, presented a pitch deck at Rockstar proposing these ideas, claiming that the operation would generate revenue for counting and made Miami-Dade known to a huge audience. However, not everyone is excited. Several Miami-Dade County Government officials oppose the idea of using public resources to promote the game. The opposing position was expressed by Sheriff Congressman Rosie Cordero-Stutz and Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez, who issued a joint statement urging the county to reject the use of public resources to promote the game. They pointed out how one should promote that Miami-Dade that has so laboriously constructed, not a fictitious incarnation of the community defined by crime and violence. The final message was clear: “Miami-Dade County is not Vice City”. The opposition emerged at the County Council table on 6 October, where several commissioners, led by René Garcia, objected to the mayor's staff negotiations to promote paid promotions in county facilities. With such a strong opposition, the negotiations ended. VERDETTO: CRITICO La questione sollevata dalla Miami-Dade County contro Rockstar Games è di un ordine di grandezza tale da rendere il progetto potenzialmente insostenibile. Il tentativo di trasformare la contea in una gigantesca campagna pubblicitaria, alimentato da proiezioni di vendita esagerate (da 3,25 a 5,2 miliardi di dollari nella prima settimana!), rischia seriamente di offuscare l'identità reale della zona e di trasformarla in un set cinematografico artificiale. La retorica di Leonida e Port Gellhorn, Mount Kalaga e Ambrosia, evidenziando la contrapposizione tra "Miami-Dade" e "Vice City", è un campanello d’allarme che non va ignorato. Il fatto che il sindaco abbia presentato una proposta basata su iniziative promozionali suggerisce una visione di marketing a breve termine, senza considerare le implicazioni a lungo termine per la comunità locale. Il rifiuto da parte di funzionari come Cordero-Stutz e Bermudez è assolutamente legittimo: utilizzare risorse pubbliche per promuovere un videogioco, soprattutto quando i costi di sviluppo sono astronomici (e non confermati), equivale a una forma di sfruttamento che merita il massimo scetticismo. La decisione del consiglio di respingere l'offerta è la risposta corretta.
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