Over 60% of GTA: IV buyers underage

Over 60 per cent of Grand Theft Auto: IV buyers in the US are younger than the videogame’s age 17 and over classification, new research has found.

GTA: IV is rated Mature in the US

According to a report by Game Daily, research firm Nielsen Games recently questioned several US GTA: IV gamers and discovered that 61 per cent had bought the game themselves, despite being younger than 17 – the videogame’s age classification Stateside.

However, parents and friends of the underage gamers were also shamed by the research because Nielsen discovered that 39 per cent of the gamers had had the title bought for them by someone of legal age.

Of the young gamers who’d had the title bought for them, 80 per cent had been bought it by their parents and 20 per cent had been bought it by an older friend or sibling.

Nielsen’s research mirrors an earlier undercover operation by Trading Standards in Harrow, UK, which discovered that several High Street stores would sell 18-rated videogames to a 15-year-old girl, including Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.