Take-Two Issues Takedown for GTA, Red Dead VR Mods

A modder by the name of LukeRoss recently sent out a lengthy message to his Patreon supporters informing them that Take-Two had asked him to remove his VR mods for the video games Grand Theft Auto 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Mafia Definitive Edition. Due to the usage of Take-copyrighted Two’s content, the business is reportedly asking that Ross take all of his work down from his Patreon website. The VR options that Ross added to Grand Theft Auto 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Mafia Definitive Edition are his most well-known achievements.

Ross continued, “I want to receive clarification from Take-Two regarding precisely why the publisher is initiating a takedown request for my changes,” in his statement. Additionally, he clarified that this request stems from a copyright issue rather than a license issue, therefore it is purportedly unrelated to Ross’s earning money from his edits through Patreon. It seems strange that Take-Two would pick this particular moment to issue a takedown notice given that the mods are original pieces of software and the Grand Theft Auto VR mod has been available for some time.

A sad day for the Flat2VR modding community. @Take2Interactiv has submitted a quite anti-consumer DMCA request to remove ALL VR Mods for their games (GTA V, RDR2, Mafia, etc.)@LukeRoss_00 Has always been extremely careful not to use any IP in his mods. pic.twitter.com/GH6OX1eZIy

— Flat2VR (@Flat2VR) July 6, 2022

Ross, however, is determined to put copyright protection first. While he claims he has tried to achieve that with his mods, which only add to Red Dead Redemption 2’s core gameplay and give users a new way to play, he also acknowledges that, in the event that Take-Two does not provide any clarifications, he will remove all works even “remotely related” to any games published by Take-Two. Video game publishers have targeted fan works in the past, and Take-Two has already sent copyright takedown requests for works that are identical to this one. The publisher took legal action against GTA 3 and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City enthusiasts who were reverse-engineering the source code in February 2021. As a result, the project that planned to let fans modify the games was abandoned.

Source: https://gamerant.com/take-two-issues-takedown-gta-red-dead-redemption-vr-mods/