An EB Games in Australia was allegedly caught giving away fake cocaine at a midnight launch event for Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto V."
The story came out via the r/gaming section of Reddit. A user (who has since deleted his/her Reddit account but kept the picture live on imgur) posted a photo of the sales desk covered with packets and prepared lines of white powder with the title "Local EB Games (Australia) giving out free "cocaine" for all GTA V preorders."
The photo:
According to Kotaku's Mark Serrels, this was a decision made by the management at the store and no one at the EB Games corporate office knew of the "promotion."
Not exactly the image most people would want to attach to a retailer frequented by children. Nor is it the image Rockstar Games would like attached to "Grand Theft Auto V," which had a budget of $266 million - that's larger than most Hollywood blockbusters - and received an R18+ rating in Australia.
That's the equivalent of an AO (Adults Only) rating here in the United States. The reason you haven't seen many games with that rating is parents aren't as likely to buy their kids a game that says it's for those over 18 as they are to buy an M-rated game (the equivalent of an R-rating for movies). Hearing that the game comes with (fake) real-life drugs is only going to turn away more of those potential sales.