In a post-Columbine, post-9/11 America, the Grand Theft Auto series became a powerful statement on moral panic, and a bold mirror to my country’s values. Its friction with the media climate was a necessary provocation as we steered firmly toward an interactive era. It ruffled the right feathers for the right reasons.

I just read that 1 in 28 people in the United Kingdom has bought Grand Theft Auto V. I don’t know if that’s right, but I do know the newest game saw $1 billion worth of sales in its first two days. We don’t need data to know how huge it is.

What’s the relevance of GTA V now that games have “won”? It no longer feels cutting edge, but like a reinforcement of the status quo. Its “equal opportunity offender” approach is, like, Comedy Central circa 2004. Its offenses are mute, as boring as corporate rock.

It was once an incisive critique of the Western tendency to disclaim responsibility for its endemic problems and instead blame video games. Now its tacky misogyny and frat jokes feel purposeless. It’s gone from oppressed to oppressor, and has nothing new to say.

In my critique, I explain why it’s fitting — and sad — that the game is about people who don’t know how to move forward, who keep slipping back into their old clumsy hungers and mistakes like they can’t figure out anything else to do, neck-deep in a gluttony of nice cars. Static, depressing, mean old bullies.

I think everyone has seen the critique already over the weekend, but just in case, it’s an actual real critique, not like the satirical review (that has actually been made into a song by Jonathan Mann (“This is Why We Video Gaming“), with a really catchy chorus that just seems to dispel the black cloud ’round this whole thing every time I hear it).

I still play GTA V, mind. One only bothers demanding more from things they care about, right? Here’s Helen Lewis (with quotes from Simon Parkin, Carolyn Petit and me!) at the Guardian talking about enjoyment and admiration of GTA V and problematic things in general.

At the New Yorker, Parkin wonders how evil a video game should allow you to be. “Should allow” is a very dangerous pairing of words in video games, but he handles it well. His piece on the life and work of Hiroshi Yamauchi, the former president of Nintendo who recently passed away, is also excellent and enlightening.