Take-Two Interactive Has Reversed Their Agreement Regarding Fan-Made Mods

[Deleted member 534570]

According to a blogpost on GTAForums, Take-Two has recently reversed their previous agreement regarding fan-made mods and has since started taking them down. Several websites like GTAModding, ModDB, and many others had mods related to several Rockstar IPs get taking down following a DMCA claim.

Mods like GTA Underground, Vice Cry, and other mods have been taken down following the reversal with their creators telling people to await any further updates. Further more, Silent, a well known GTA modder, has had their say regarding this issue:

Taking down re3 and GTA V map mods was not enough, now map mods for **GTA San Andreas** are being taken down. How long before this slippery slope kills all modding?

I think I'm just about done with GTA modding now. In 2014 modders' work would be boosted on Newswire... (1/5) pic.twitter.com/VFn9l6INlw

— Silent (@__silent_) July 17, 2021

Vice Cry is a FULLY ORIGINAL mod, not using ANY converted assets. Down.

Like I said, slippery slope. https://t.co/6ZpRxuJ6dn pic.twitter.com/DdyV1xW5QA

— Silent (@__silent_) July 17, 2021

Ironically, here's a tweet which clearly shows Rockstar Games praising a custom map mod that someone made back in 2012:

Credit goes to our community members Blaster_nl and @martijneinstein for the creative GTA1 map mod made for GTAIV PC http://t.co/ZGWf7Cfq

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) July 20, 2012

Additionally, there is a statement from one of the ModDB owners/moderators:

Hey, Editor and Community Manager at ModDB here. I just want to state now we literally can’t do much else but comply with a DMCA, but as a modder too of various games who has shipped a few mods in his time, this has saddened me too. I wish there was something else to be done.

— David Driver-Gomm (HL2RTX, RTBR) (@DriverGomm) July 17, 2021

What do you people think about this situation? Do you think it's fair for T2 to reverse their agreement regarding fan-made content? Share your thoughts in the comment below.

 

[NoNAND]

Someone injected them with the Nintendo vaccine perhaps.
That explains as to why they are going on an anti modding spree mowing down anyone who dares to touch their games.


Hilarious.

 

[Kioku]

Just think of the intellectual properties!!!!!! /s

 

[Bladexdsl]

take twos games are so shit the only way to make them better is with mods. now their games will remain garbage forever!

 

[The Catboy]

Imagine if they put even a fraction of this effort into making GTA6 happen.

 

[FAST6191]

I am curious as to what brought this on. I am also curious as to what basis in law they are using for this, hopefully we can get a copy of the notice.

If I had to bet then I would go with some lawyer somewhere underneath it all took a reading of some fan fiction/fan films/... vs the world stuff* and decided they did not want to be part of that before getting proactive.

*many times it has been noted various fan films, fan works and whatever else cross over into what the company is doing for their game (it is a somewhat grounded crime simulator that does not stray too far into wacky territory, that means 150 years of crime novels, films, TV shows, radio plays, comics and more that could be similar) and can cause a legal headache or two. See also various fan works agreements.
https://web.archive.org/web/20180305124251/http://www.startrek.com/fan-films
https://grrm.livejournal.com/151914.html?page=3
https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/68332629.html

 

[Deleted member 514389]

They should take all that misdirected energy and use it to port said games to switch.

 

[AngryCinnabon]

More effort in DMCAing than actual games at this point.

And this means they can kill the Kerbal modding scene, FUCK.

 

[Tweaker_Modding]

come on take 2 this is bullshit

why take down these mods especially ones that don’t even use your assets

its like you want the gta community to die

 

[Bagel Le Stinky]

It's kinda dumb to let people make mods then be like "nevermind, we just found out we're stupid!"

 

[MikaDubbz]

Someone injected them with the Nintendo vaccine perhaps.
That explains as to why they are going on an anti modding spree mowing down anyone who dares to touch their games.


Hilarious.

Hell, I'm not sure if Nintendo has ever even shut down modpacks. Sure, fan games, and even the occasional rom hack here and there have all been axed by Nintendo, but honestly, I'm not sure Nintendo is even aware that modpacks are a thing lol.

 

[chrisrlink]

and thats why I <3 bethesda whats next Civ6 takedowns as I recall civ games+ mods went hand in hand

 

[AngryCinnabon]

Hell, I'm not sure if Nintendo has ever even shut down modpacks. Sure, fan games, and even the occasional rom hack here and there have all been axed by Nintendo, but honestly, I'm not sure Nintendo is even aware that modpacks are a thing lol.

It's gonna happen, big fat DMCA to gamebanana eventually.

 

[MikaDubbz]

It's gonna happen, big fat DMCA to gamebanana eventually.

I doubt it. To use modpacks with current Nintendo games in general, you have to mod your Nintendo system, and that's more where Nintendo's efforts lie: stopping hardware modding of their systems from being possible to begin with. It's not like Rockstar who put every game on PC as well, where any Joe Shmo can install a modpack in a moment without having to do anything special to their system to make it happen to begin with.

 

[pinbi7]

Imagine if they put even a fraction of this effort into making GTA6 happen.

you mean GTA5 , they need to release GTA5 again

 

[The Catboy]

you mean GTA5 , they need to release GTA5 again

That's true, it's still not on the FUCKING SWITCH!
I am a little salty demon

 

[BlazeMasterBM]

Company taking down mods.
No surprise there.

 

[FAST6191]

Company taking down mods.
No surprise there.

Except it is, especially this company and this game series that has benefited massively from mods for... decades now, and the company's ancestors going back further still (see lemmings).

PC mods being taken down is also quite rare in and of itself, and we are not quite sure why these were taken down; none of the usual hallmarks are there for things that aggravate companies.

 

[BlazeMasterBM]

Except it is, especially this company and this game series that has benefited massively from mods for... decades now, and the company's ancestors going back further still (see lemmings).

PC mods being taken down is also quite rare in and of itself, and we are not quite sure why these were taken down; none of the usual hallmarks are there for things that aggravate companies.

no it's not really. I guess a little

 

[AkiraKurusu]

Will they reverse their reversal in the near future? Hopefully they will; while I'm not a Take-Two fan at all, I do love singleplayer mods.