Do you remember Project Epsilon? It was basically the GTA series’ parody of Scientology and other religions, with rather bizarre beliefs that, at least to cynics like you and me, sounded a bit like a cult or a pyramid scheme. Well, during the development of GTA 5, former Rockstar developer and everyone’s favorite in-game radio host Lazlow Jones thought he got some calls from people who actually believed in Kifflom.
This was stated by Jones in an interview with IGN, in which Jones mainly discussed his current work at Absurd Ventures, which he co-founded with Dan Houser after Jones left the studio and which is currently nearing the end of bringing us Grand Theft Auto 6.
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Jones said that while he was still developing Grand Theft Auto V at Rockstar, he received a call from a woman who claimed to represent a group of real-life followers of the Epsilon Project, who told him they were “desperate to learn more” about the apparently unreal religion that was originally developed for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
“She was actually saying that they were worshippers of this fake religion that we made up,” the developer recalled, and he immediately went to tell his colleague Dan Houser about the voicemail the group had left, as you normally would.”
“She really sounds like a follower of the Epsilon Project,” Jones continued. “It’s crazy to be satirizing something… because we’re very outspoken about it. Back in 2004, we created a website for the Epsilon Project, and all the copy on the website made it clear to me that this was a modern, made-up religion designed to make money. But they sound like true followers of it.” This both excited and scared me.
How did Jones feel when he learned that real-life people could potentially follow the teachings of the Light Blue Sisters and Brothers gang, led by Cris Formage, who greet each other with “Kifflom!” and Michael De Santa could befriend them, between committing robberies and committing more hit-and-run homicides per day than the average Range Rover driver? “It excites me and scares me at the same time,” he told IGN.
To be fair, given how weird the world is in 2024, is it really that weird to imagine people banding together over believing the claims of a video game cult whose core teachings hold that sperm doesn’t exist and that if you have a birthmark you might be a descendant of the famous Fourth Paradigm Emperor Krave?
Do you believe you could be the sperm-free offspring of an alien emperor? Tell us below! Or, on second thought, maybe just keep this secret to yourself.
