After the cease-and-desist order against popular modding tool OpenIV last week, it appears that Rockstar Games has reversed its legal stance to some extent, likely due to public outcry.
Last week, news emerged that Rockstar Games’ parent company, Take-Two Interactive, had enforced a cease-and-desist order upon the popular Grand Theft Auto modding tool, OpenIV, essentially declaring modding of its titles unwelcome. OpenIV has been in use for over a decade and has been utilized in various games including Max Payne, GTA IV, and GTA V.
The move was met by a lot of criticism, with gamers taking to the GTA V store listing on Steam to publish negative reviews — which led to reviews skydiving to «Overwhelmingly Negative» for the otherwise popular title. Tens of thousands of others even started a petition on Change.org, condemning the controversial move.
However, it now appears that Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive have yielded to the outcry by the modding community and has reversed its stance, to some extent.
On Rockstar Games’ website, a support page titled «Are PC Single-Player Mods Allowed?», states that:
While the statement might restore some faith in the company among fans, it’s interesting to note that the wording is a bit vague. Take-Two Interactive has agreed that it will «generally» not take legal action against third-party mods. What the usage of the word «generally» entails is still considerably unclear. Additionally, the company has noted that it can withdraw its statement at any time and does not signify approval of any third-party projects related to single-player games.
That said, it appears that its negotiations with the developers of OpenIV have been successful, with the modding tool receiving an update shortly after the publication of the aforementioned statement, likely implying that Take-Two has ceded its legal stance to shut down the development of the mod. It’ll be interesting to see how this situation develops and how it affects other third-party modding endeavors as well.
Source: Rockstar Games via PC Gamer (1) , (2)
