GTA 6’s Vice City is based on Miami, so Rockstar figures why not turn parts of it into Vice City – but unsurprisingly local law enforcement isn’t keen.

In case it wasn’t blatantly obvious from the trailers, GTA 6’s setting of Vice City is heavily inspired by the real world city of Miami in Florida.

So, it’s not too surprising to hear that developer Rockstar would like to take advantage of this through its marketing by turning parts of Miami into locations from Vice City… which presumably already look a lot like it, since that’s the whole point.

It seems an obvious marketing stunt but those plans may not go through, as a county sheriff is opposing Rockstar and how GTA 6 glorifies the criminal lifestyle.

Rockstar is reportedly in discussions with the mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, to set up Vice City inspired locations around the county, which includes turning public areas and county-owned buildings into attractions.

Aside from helping to promote GTA 6, it’s suggested this could be fiscally beneficial for Miami-Dade, both through tourism opportunities and whatever cheque Rockstar is offering to set all of it up.

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‘Given Miami-Dade’s clear influence on the game, we think there could be a unique opportunity to generate revenue for the County while showcasing Miami-Dade to a massive audience,’ a spokesperson for Levine Cava told The Miamian last week.

It sounds like nothing’s been set in stone, but a follow-up report by the Miami Herald says county sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz is pushing back against the proposals.

‘Grand Theft Auto is a video game franchise built around criminal activity,’ says Cordero-Stutz, ‘Its fictional world includes murder, robbery, drug trafficking, carjacking, violence against law enforcement, and other conduct that the men and women of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office work every single day to prevent.’

Her comments are being supported by Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez, who argues that they ‘should be promoting the Miami-Dade we have worked so hard to build, not a fictional version of our community defined by crime and violence.’

Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo and Clerk Juan Fernandez-Barquin of the county’s judicial system also aren’t thrilled with Rockstar’s idea. Although they aren’t entirely opposed to some kind of GTA 6 deal, their letter to Levine Cava reads: ‘We do not believe our courthouses should be incorporated into a promotional campaign for a video game whose central themes include criminal activity, violence, law enforcement pursuits and other fictionalised depictions of crime.’

The GTA series has a long history of courting controversy for their excessive violence and casting players as criminals – something that has not changed for GTA 6 – so it’s hardly shocking that Rockstar’s plans to bring its fictional city to life is being met with pushback.

Even if the proposal is rejected, the fact that it tried is still technically part of GTA 6’s marketing, which Rockstar may have banked on all along… or maybe it simply didn’t think that hard about it and assumed no one would take issue with the idea.

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