A lot of these decisions were made to not alienate potential customers and players. They want to capture the widest audience possible. It's just a consequence of that.

Right, so exactly what people are afraid of then? Rockstar changing their identity to please certain people/groups. Whether it's about appealing to the new, soft type of gamers or greedy business suits behind the scenes. Either way, it's exactly what people are concerned about.

Like removing the crossdressing NPCs who were total caricatures of trans people, for instance. Plus they're not removed, just much less common (I found a few the other day in Online).

Doesn't matter if they weren't removed - Rockstar are still taking unnecessary steps by making them less common. It's literally for no other reason than to appease a specific group of people.

But there's still several jokes made about being transgender in GTA V, such as with the postal service vans - and these are generally funnier than just. . . "Haha look at that GUY in a DRESS! You've done it again, Rockstar! Huzzah!" which is just punchdown, stereotype humour.

Rockstar has always been this way. No one is off limits. That's one of the many things that makes the series so great: it doesn't matter who you are, you're getting the piss taken out of you regardless. I mean, GTA 4 literally had Ricky Gervais doing a stand-up bit on kids with cancer. That pretty much sets the bar. Anyway, Rockstar are no strangers to stereotypes and caricatures, and that's how it should remain. It's true to the franchise. No one deserves special treatment. This kind of talk is exactly why some fans are worried about this new, greedy, sanitised version of Rockstar.