GTA 5 Liberty City Mod: Legal Shutdown

Summary

• A GTA 5 mod featuring Liberty City was discontinued after discussions with Rockstar Games.
• Many suspect that the modders were compelled to shut down the project due to legal concerns.
• Despite this setback, the modding team remains dedicated and plans to continue creating mods for the game.

An exciting Grand Theft Auto 5 mod that brought players back to the iconic Liberty City has been discontinued, much to the disappointment of fans. The news came after the mod garnered significant attention in early 2024.

While some game developers, such as Bethesda, embrace community modding, others like Nintendo and Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, often take a more restrictive stance. Despite facing legal challenges, the modding community remains resilient, and the team behind this mod has expressed their ongoing commitment to modding for GTA.

The modding group World Travel, responsible for the Liberty City Preservation Project, announced the project's discontinuation on their Discord channel. They cited "unexpected attention" and subsequent discussions with Rockstar Games as the reasons for pulling the mod. While the team did not provide detailed information about these discussions, they emphasized their continued passion for modding GTA.

Another GTA Mod Bites the Dust

Although World Travel did not explicitly state that they were forced to discontinue the mod, many players believe that the "discussions" with Rockstar Games were likely a warning of potential legal action, such as a DMCA takedown. Given that most mods are created by volunteers without legal support, such warnings often lead to the swift closure of projects.

The fan reaction has been one of frustration, with many taking to social media to criticize Rockstar and Take-Two for their stringent policies against mods. There's speculation that Rockstar might have been concerned about the mod affecting sales of GTA 4, though this reasoning is contested by fans who argue that GTA 4 is aging and that playing the mod still requires ownership of GTA 5. Despite the reasoning behind the decision, the Liberty City Preservation Project is no longer available. Fans hope that future projects from World Travel will fare better, but it appears that Take-Two's approach to modding is unlikely to change soon.