Mods for GTA are in trouble again, the publisher of GTA games wants to ban them

Playing modified versions of GTA games on the PC platform is commonplace. The modding community is doing some amazing things with GTA games on the PC and it was therefore amazing when the publishing house Take-Two wanted to ban the modification of GTA games four years ago. It didn’t work out for them as PC gamers complained loudly, but Take-Two seems ready for a new round of showdown with the modders.

News surfaced last weekend that modders had received a request from GTA game publishers to remove modifications such as GTA Underground, GTA: Liberty City, and Vice Cry. The unofficial ports of the games Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, which cannot be bought on a PC, have also disappeared.

In 2017, Take-Two made a deal with the modding community and imposed on them a set of rules they must follow if they want to deal with modifying GTA games. Among these rules was a ban on mod development for GTA Online, as well as a ban on switching content from older GTA games or other Rockstar games to newer titles (GTA 4 or 5). Although this was already restrictive, the modders agreed to this compromise. However, Take-Two has now supplemented that set of rules with new bans.

Sometime back two years ago Take-Two started changing the modding rules without notifying the modder community. Not only did they do it secretly, but they enacted rules that essentially forbid almost any creation of modified content for GTA games. The key point is that modders are no longer allowed to create new content for GTA games. No one other than Rockstar is allowed to make additional games, missions, stories, or maps for GTA games.

Even if, for example, they make completely new, completely original textures for a GTA game and distribute them for free - they broke the rules.

Some modders have said they are giving up on modifying GTA games because of this. Others are trying to explain why Take-Two is trying to ban the modification of age-old games, but there is no concrete answer yet. It is suspected that Rockstar could plan to return to the old games - maybe through GTA Online, but it is not clear to anyone why they are bothered by the 15-year-old mod that switches GTA 3 to the GTA Vice City engine.