The Grand Theft Auto series might be one of the most popular and profitable gaming franchises out there, but in Australia, the game is facing a massive backlash over violent and sexual content. According to a recent report from Bloomberg Businessweek, multiple major retailers in Australia and New Zealand have opted to no longer carry Grand Theft Auto V, the current game in the franchise.

GTA V released in September 2013, but has continued to be a major force in the gaming industry throughout 2014. In fact, Take Two Interactive and Rockstar Games, the companies behind the game, have had an extremely prosperous year, with the stock value for Take Two is up 62 percent. (Rockstar is the Take Two subsidiary that actually develops the Grand Theft Auto games.)

The fact that GTA V has been such a profitable phenomenon for Rockstar and Take Two is not hard to understand. Upon its release, the game received universal acclaim from critics. A number of perfect or near-perfect scores earned GTA V a Metacritic rating of 97/100. And needless to say, whenever a game gets that kind of acclaim, the numbers convert directly to sales.

Those sales are hitting a brick wall Down Under, though, where a movement is spreading to essentially banish the Grand Theft Auto series from stores. The movement began in New Zealand, where group dedicated to stopping sexual violence against women singled out GTA V as a toxic influence. The Grand Theft Auto franchise has long allowed players to attack and kill virtual civilians, including women, and also allows players to solicit sex for money.

The New Zealand group, called Stop Demand, was successful in getting the Grand Theft Auto game removed from shelves at the Warehouse Group, a major retailer in the country. Soon after, the backlash against the game spread to Australia, where both Target and Kmart have agreed to remove it from shelves. Customers of Target Australia signed a Change.com petition, urging the retailer to stop carrying the game. Once Target obliged, Kmart said it reviewed the content of Grand Theft Auto V and decided to remove the game as well.

Now, customers in Australia are moving onto other retailers like Woolworths and Big W, asking the companies to take a similar stand against the misogyny and violence of the Grand Theft Auto series. Only time will tell, meanwhile, if a similar movement will spring up in different continents like North America.