On 17 October , Mexico approved a tax on all games deemed to be violent or encourage isolation. This tax would be applied to all physical and digital purchases including DLC, in-app purchases, etc. Similar to the UK's PEGI rating system for gaming, games in Mexico released for over 18s and exclusively adults (rated C or D) are under fire from the local government. Mexico has a thriving competitive gaming scene, with over 104.1 million Mexicans partaking in some form of gaming last year according to Statista: making Mexico the second largest gaming audience in Latin America which also now may be severely damaged by this tax.
The country already has a 16% VAT which (stacked on top of the new tax) would make the new GTA 6 cost potentially well over $100 USD upon release, when looking at current prices of AAA games from Microsoft or Nintendo. This could drastically reduce sales in and around the country. The Grand Theft Auto franchise is known for being a very violent one. Rockstar's advertising might not be enough to convince casual consumers in the country to spend all of their money on the new instalment. However, they have a huge online presence as it is, which could save their upcoming release in Mexico.
The country already has a 16% VAT which (stacked on top of the new tax) would make the new GTA 6 cost potentially well over $100 USD upon release
But is this something that we need to be worried about? Yes and no. A good game to refer to is Doki Doki Literature Club (DDLC) and its media attention. Various news companies like BBC News claimed videogames like this were bad for children, encouraged negative emotions and even go as far to say that some children were influenced by the game's themes of death and depression. DDLC however starts its games with a big warning saying that the game is explicitly not for children, so the fact that the developer Dan Salvato is blamed for younger audiences playing the game rather than parents not monitoring their kids is incredibly confusing. The UK government may be influenced by Mexico to produce a similar law following along from the controversial "Online Safety Act", ultimately harming the online industry as we know it using the front of protecting children. With such rapid coverage on DDLC and games like it, and how little knowledge media companies have of gamers and the games they interact with, it could be speculated that we would end up with something like a tax, or even a ban.
People can remain hopeful as it has not been confirmed that the UK would get something like this as of yet, but give it a few months and we may follow the same fate as Mexico.