A planned marketing push that would have temporarily transformed parts of Miami into the setting for the next Grand Theft Auto will not move forward after local officials objected.
The proposal included placing "Welcome to Vice City" signs in airports and wrapping trains with symbols from the game. Those ideas faced strong resistance from Miami-Dade leaders, most notably County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Schutz, who publicly spoke out against the arrangement. Cordero-Schutz argued the GTA series glamorizes crimes law enforcement confronts daily, citing issues from drug trafficking to violence against officers. Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez backed her position, saying the county ought to be linked with investment and tourism rather than a fictional world built on crime.
Despite the scrapped local promotion, Rockstar appears unlikely to suffer: the title is generating exceptional demand on its own. The project is breaking popularity records even without official government endorsement, and fans have been buying consoles ahead of the release.
For now, Miami has chosen to keep Vice City confined to screens rather than public signage and transit. Well done?