When the trailer for Rockstar Games’ highly-anticipated GTA V hit the interwebs in July, users went berserk across social media. Now that the game has arrived, the Twitter sphere has gone into a full-scale meltdown, exploding with weird, almost awkward admiration and obsession for the game.
Since the game launched at midnight on Tuesday, what seems like countless GTA V photos and videos have been posted on social media, and especially Twitter. Some of the more memorable ones involved heaping doting affection on the game box. There are photos of people placing their newly acquired game on a car seat, with the seat belt on, before driving home to play it for the first time. Others gave it personality, like donning sunglasses on it or even deeming the inanimate object of affection as their “new girlfriends.”
Fans had time on their hands to tweet despite the many hours of game play ahead of them in what Rockstar is calling the most massive open sandbox of any GTA game. A poll by IGN.com asked gamers whether they would be taking a day off from work to play the game. Forty-six percent said they had booked Tuesday as holiday. Shockingly, nearly one in five said they would be calling into work sick.
Not everyone was impressed, however. There were many naysayer tweets and sarcastic reactions from PC gamers, who are waiting to hear when Rockstar is giving them a PC version. Some dwelled on the franchise’s reputation for controversial content, with one person tweeting, “I support the few game reviewers with the guts to discuss the rampant misogyny that permeates Grand Theft Auto V.”
Below are some of the best reactions – both positive and negative:
