A video game series as popular as GTA V will inevitably have an influence on pop culture and other forms of media. However, sometimes innocent imitation motivated by admiration can cross the line and turn into uninspired copying. Recently, Grand Theft Auto fans have accused a new Colombian Netflix show titled The Snitch Cartel: Origins (El Cartel de los Sapos: El origen) of stealing the artwork of GTA V after noting how the show’s intro bears a suspicious resemblance to the loading screen images of the game.
The similarities are almost impossible to ignore once you watch the show’s intro. Grand Theft Auto has a distinctive art style that has been used throughout the franchise. Similarly, The Snitch Cartel: Origins features the same hand-drawn art style that manages to show a wide breadth of a character’s personality in a single image. Whether you think the Netflix show is guilty of stealing GTA V artwork or not, the similarities are hard to ignore.
The similarities to Grand Theft Auto V artwork are hard to ignore
Not only is the art style similar, but several scenes seem to be copied verbatim. This can be seen when comparing some images that a Reddit user points out are unignorably alike. Whether the similarities are sufficient to constitute plagiarism has yet to be seen, as Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games have yet to comment on the situation.
Take-Two and Rockstar have never been hesitant to dish out lawsuits when they believe their precious Grand Theft Auto franchise is being unlawfully used. Recently, the modding community has found itself at the receiving end of Take-Two’s ire as the business has gone on a lawsuit spree. The programmers behind the re3 project which reserves the source code for GTA: San Andreas and GTA: Vice City have been sued by Take-Two. This follows Take-Two serving several DMCA takedown notices for GTA V map mods.
GTA V: Expanded & Enhanced Edition is set to release on next-gen consoles on the 11th of November 2021.
