As well as being based on The Simpsons licence, EA has always said that its upcoming The Simpsons Game would parody the games industry itself – but the developer has admitted that some mixed reactions to the content have forced it to make a few cuts to the in-game content.

Speaking to CVG, lead designer Greg Rizzer stated: “I was always under the impression that when you do parody, it's a sign of respect. If we make fun of Grand Theft Auto, we're not going to hurt the sales of Grand Theft Auto.

“But yeah, we've definitely had some reactions - we've had to pull stuff from the game.

“But that's cool to me. It's cool to still know that the industry's been waiting for a game like this to come along. It's been too long since we really had one, and of course there's The Simpsons being the perfect vehicle to poke fun at the games industry.”

And of Rockstar’s complaints concerning EA’s ‘Grand Theft Scratchy’ posters that adorned EA’s displays at The Games Convention Leipzig, Rizzer added: “I don't know who specifically at Rockstar. I'm guessing probably more than anyone it was a lawyer. The people who work on that product, I doubt they were like, 'Stop that!'.

“I don't know if you've seen Sitar Hero? We did Apu playing this 60-button controller and songs like Pour Some Curry On Me - we made this wonderful parody poster and the guys from Harmonix loved it and we sent them 20 copies of the poster. They just loved it so much.”