Someone is trying to open a shop using fake branding from the GTA games, while the GTA fan wiki announces plans to go independent.
Earlier this month, it was discovered that someone had tried to set up a sandwich shop called Vice City Subs, which prompted GTA owner Take-Two Interactive to intervene on the grounds of trademark infringement.
Given the company’s reputation, you’d think anyone would think twice about opening a business that could in any way be connected to the GTA series and/or Rockstar Games, yet it’s now happened a second time.
Recently, people in Salford, Manchester came across a new, albeit unopen, shop called The Cluckin’ Bell, which is the same name as a fictional fast-food chain in the GTA games.
Even its logo is near enough a one-to-one replica to the one used in the games. It’s not exactly the same (for instance, the red comb isn’t as sharp), but it’s far too similar for it to be a coincidence.
For context, Cluckin’ Bell is an obvious KFC/Taco Bell parody that first appeared in GTA: San Andreas and then popped up again in subsequent games including GTA 5 and GTA Online. So, there’s every chance it’ll return for GTA 6 too.
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Photos of the shop from different angles have been popping up on social media sites like Reddit, with Ash R. on X and a Facebook fan page called Liberty City corroborating its existence and claiming it’s been there for at least a few days but hasn’t opened yet.
It certainly doesn’t seem to be associated with Take-Two or Rockstar. If they were going to sign off on a real Cluckin’ Bell restaurant they’d surely set it up in an American city or Edinburgh, where developer Rockstar North is based.
A listing on the UK’s Companies House website shows that the business was only registered in January and is owned by one Revan Hussain, with a quick Google search showing they have no relation to Take-Two or Rockstar.
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Should Take-Two catch wind of this, it’ll no doubt be sending some strongly worded letters from its legal team. Calling it The Cluckin’ Bell and not Cluckin’ Bell is unlikely to put them off.
In other GTA news, the fan-made GTA Wiki has recently undergone a design overhaul. This is because the editors are planning to divest it from conglomerate Fandom, which hosts a lot of fan wikis for video games.
‘It is no secret that Fandom is generally disliked by readers and editors alike,’ reads a blunt message from the site’s editors, highlighting the aggressive ads that clutter the site and the recent appointment of a pro-AI CEO at Fandom as amongst the reasons for their decision.
‘After initial discussion with staff at Weird Gloop, an independent, community-driven organisation hosting wikis and helping existing wikis move away from Fandom, we are looking at the idea of moving the wiki to gta.wiki.’
This is perhaps the best time to do so, as the wiki is bound to see a massive boost in traffic once GTA 6 launches in the autumn… provided the game isn’t delayed again.
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