Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive has taken down even more Grand Theft Auto mods, causing yet another stir in the game’s community. The gaming giant has spent the summer taking down Grand Theft Auto mods it deems as fostering “bad behavior” or harmful to “the economy“, which is incredibly vague. Take-Two’s defense for taking down GTA mods is a bit odd, especially in this latest wave of takedowns.
In 2017, a similar ordeal happened with popular Grand Theft Auto modding service OpenIV. Take-Two and OpenIV had a very public battle which eventually resulted in OpenIV being allowed to continue operations as normal. Take-Two primarily targeted the service due to the fact some people were using it to create a toxic environment in GTA Online, but the service was largely known for its single-player mods. At the time, Rockstar stood up in defense of its modding community, noting it believes in “reasonable fan creativity, and, in particular, wants creators to showcase their passion for our games” and it had come to an agreement with Take-Two to not take legal action against respectful mods.
Now, with rumors of a remastered GTA PS2 trilogy on the way, Take-Two has begun taking down a number of mods again. This time, it seems far more egregious as the latest mods were ports of old maps, characters, and other assets from old GTA games with no harmful qualities. LibertyCity.net posted a small list of mods that were taken down by Take-Two Interactive, which included a fan-made remaster of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. With rumblings of both a remastered trilogy and Vice City returning in GTA VI, the timing is certainly suspicious.
![More GTA Mods Get Taken Down By Rockstar Owner](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Grand-Theft-Auto-Vice-City.jpg)
If this really is being done to eliminate any potential competition with a remastered Grand Theft Auto trilogy, it would be far better if this was communicated by Take-Two. Obviously, there’s the secrecy surrounding video game releases, but perhaps it would be better if Take-Two had waited to do all of this until after it was announced. It wouldn’t be surprising if more GTA mods get taken down in the coming months, especially as Grand Theft Auto 3 turns 20 in October.
Whether or not there’s a larger reason for the sudden takedowns of these mods remains to be seen, but it’s been a bizarre situation nonetheless. The Grand Theft Auto modding community has been showing support for the series for years and this feels like an overly aggressive stance for Take-Two to take. Perhaps there will be a happy resolution similar to the one in 2017, but it seems a bit unlikely at the moment.