GTA Vice City Next-Gen Mod Defies Take-Two's Cease and Desist

A Russian modding group, Revolution Team, has released its ambitious "GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition" mod, defying takedown attempts by Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games' parent company. This impressive mod seamlessly integrates the world, cutscenes, and missions of 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City into the 2008 Grand Theft Auto IV engine.

The modders revealed that Take-Two deleted their YouTube channel without warning, resulting in the loss of hundreds of hours of streamed development footage and a significant portion of their international audience. Their teaser trailer alone garnered over 100,000 views and 1,500 comments in under 24 hours before the channel's removal. Despite the setback, the team pressed forward with the mod's release, prioritizing the promised launch date over a planned celebratory stream. They acknowledge the uncertainty surrounding the mod's long-term availability. While not actively encouraging reuploads, they haven't explicitly forbidden them.

Initially designed to require a legitimate copy of GTA IV as a show of respect, the mod is now released as a standalone installer to ensure broader accessibility given the circumstances. Revolution Team emphasizes the mod's non-commercial nature, created by fans for fans, and expresses gratitude to the original game's developers, not the publisher. They lament Take-Two's stance on modding initiatives, hoping their project might set a precedent for future endeavors.

Take-Two's history of aggressive takedowns of Rockstar-related mods is well-documented, straining its relationship with the modding community. Past examples include actions against an AI-powered GTA V story mode mod, a Red Dead Redemption 2 VR mod, and the Liberty City Preservation Project. Ironically, Take-Two has sometimes hired modders for Rockstar, and some projects, like this Vice City mod, have been removed only to be followed by official remasters.

Former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij offers a corporate perspective, defending Take-Two's actions as a protection of business interests. He points out that the Vice City Nextgen Edition directly competes with the GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, and the Liberty City Preservation Project could potentially interfere with a hypothetical GTA IV remaster. Vermeij suggests that the best-case scenario for the modding community is the allowance of mods that don't directly impact Take-Two's commercial ventures.

The question remains: will Take-Two attempt to remove the "GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition" mod itself? Only time will tell.