According to a report by Game Daily, Nielsen Games questioned US GTA: IV gamers and found that 17 per cent of those who had purchased the game were between seven and 16- years-old.

Of these gamers, 61 per cent claimed to have bought the game themselves, despite the title having a "Mature" classification - restricting it from sale to anyone younger than 17-years-old.

GTA: IV is rated Mature in the US

However, parents and friends of the underage gamers were also shamed by the research because Nielsen discovered that 39 per cent of the gamers had had the title bought for them by someone of legal age.

Of the young gamers who’d had the title bought for them, 80 per cent had been bought it by their parents and 20 per cent had been bought it by an older friend or sibling.

Nielsen’s research mirrors an earlier undercover operation by Trading Standards in Harrow, UK, which discovered that several High Street stores would sell 18-rated videogames to a 15-year-old girl, including Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.