GTA 5 Liberty City Mod Shut Down

Liberty City GTA 5 Mod Shut Down Following Contact with Rockstar Games

A highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 5 mod recreating Liberty City has been discontinued. The news follows the considerable excitement surrounding the mod's 2024 release.

While some game developers embrace modding, others take a stricter approach. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games' parent company, has a history of taking action against mods, similar to Nintendo. Despite this, the modding community persists. The developers behind the "Liberty City Preservation Project," known as World Travel, announced the shutdown on their Discord server. They cited "unexpected attention" and subsequent discussions with Rockstar Games as the reason for removing the mod. While the specifics remain undisclosed, the team expressed their continued passion for GTA modding.

Another Casualty of Aggressive Mod Policies

While World Travel hasn't explicitly confirmed coercion, many players suspect the mod's closure resulted from pressure from Rockstar Games. The phrasing suggests a seemingly amicable conversation, but the likely scenario is a warning about potential legal action, such as a DMCA takedown. Given the volunteer nature of most modding teams and their lack of legal representation, such contact often leads to immediate project termination.

The mod's termination has sparked considerable backlash on social media, with fans criticizing Rockstar and Take-Two's aggressive stance towards modding. This is particularly frustrating given the absence of Liberty City in the announced GTA 6 setting (so far only Vice City has been confirmed). Concerns about impacting GTA 4 sales seem unfounded, as playing the mod still requires owning GTA 5, and GTA 4 is an older title. Regardless of the reasoning, the mod is inaccessible, leaving fans hoping future projects from World Travel fare better. Unfortunately, Take-Two's approach to modding doesn't appear poised to change anytime soon.