GTA 5 Liberty City Mod: Legal Shutdown Initiated

Summary

• A GTA 5 mod featuring Liberty City was discontinued after discussions with Rockstar Games.
• Many suspect that the modders were pressured into shutting down the project.
• Despite this setback, the modding team remains dedicated and plans to continue modding for the game.

An exciting Grand Theft Auto 5 mod that allowed players to explore Liberty City has been discontinued, much to the dismay of the gaming community. This unfortunate development comes after the mod gained significant attention in 2024.

While some game developers, such as Bethesda, embrace modding, others, like Nintendo and Take-Two Interactive (Rockstar Games' parent company), are known for their stringent policies against unauthorized modifications. Despite these challenges, modders persist, and the team behind this project remains committed to their craft.

The modding group, World Travel, responsible for the GTA 5 Liberty City Preservation Project, announced the discontinuation on their Discord channel. They cited "unexpected attention" and subsequent discussions with Rockstar Games as the reasons for pulling the mod. Although no specific details were provided about these conversations, the team expressed their ongoing passion for modding GTA.

Another GTA Mod Bites the Dust

While World Travel did not explicitly mention being forced to shut down the mod, the community widely believes that pressure from Rockstar Games played a role. The phrase "speaking to Rockstar Games" suggests a polite exchange, but it's likely that the team received a warning about potential legal action, such as a DMCA takedown. Given that most modders are volunteers without legal support, such threats often lead to the immediate closure of projects.

Fans of the Liberty City mod have expressed their frustration on social media, criticizing Rockstar and Take-Two for their aggressive stance against mods. The situation is particularly frustrating as GTA 6 is set to revisit Vice City rather than Liberty City, leading some to speculate that Rockstar might be protecting GTA 4 sales. However, this argument is contested, as GTA 4 continues to age, and playing the mod still requires ownership of GTA 5. Despite the reasoning behind the publisher's actions, the mod is no longer available. Fans hope that future projects from World Travel will fare better, though Take-Two's approach to mods seems unlikely to change soon.