Elon Musk couldn't bring himself to shoot cops in GTA 5

That’s probably a ‘no’ to GTA 6 as well then

If you haven’t been living under a rock, then you’ll probably have heard that the first GTA 6 trailer is out. Grand Theft Auto being as huge a topic as it is means that just about everybody has some opinion or experience to share about it, and that seemingly includes Elon Musk. Which isn’t at all surprising, since he has an opinion on everything.

Responding to a post on social media from someone stating that they hadn’t played any previous GTA, Musk wrote that he “tried, but didn’t like doing crime.” If only someone could have warned him that a game named after a crime included such horrible content.

Musk went into a bit more detail about which part of the game didn’t sit well with him: “GTA 5 required shooting police officers in the opening scene. Just couldn’t do it.”

Did you know that video games are just pixels? :: Rockstar / Take-Two

Again, it’s not like Rockstar kept it a big secret that shooting at law enforcement may be part of the game – so what exactly did he expect when he tried it? That’s like playing a match of Counter-Strike, knowing full well that you’ll play as a terrorist half the time, and then conceding the game mid-way because your conscience didn’t allow you to shoot at pixels that happen to form a virtual police officer. It’s not real, you know?

Now, of course everyone’s entitled to their opinions and sensibilities, but Musk’s post is a little bit dishonest in that regard.

Even though he professed a certain disinterest in the series, it seems to have often come into his mind in the past. Back in 2020, Musk tweeted a meme about Rockstar milking GTA 5 and fantasized about people stealing a Tesla while playing GTA on a Tesla. Playing the game on a Tesla is actually possible, as an aside. In fact, Musk saw that video and used it to promote his car company earlier this year.

No problems with his conscience on any of those occasions – that only seems to come up when he sees an opportunity to become a contrarian and score points with a certain online crowd.

We’ll have to wait and see if he’ll learn his lesson for GTA 6, which – spoiler alert – will very likely include shooting at very realistic looking, but still very much not real, law enforcement officers. Fantastic visuals are only one of the reasons why many gamers are pumped for GTA 6.

GTA 6 confirmed for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2025, no luck for PC