The usually chill parent company of Rockstar Games and 2K have been on a takedown roll lately. In fact, the holding company's latest target is a group of programmers. Take-Two is reportedly suing the people responsible for reverse-engineering Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto Vice City to make both games playable on the Nintendo Switch, among other platforms.
This is just the latest in a series of uncharacteristic moves from a company that previously gave modders all the freedom in the world to modify Grand Theft Auto games in their own image.
Is Take-Two's sudden interest in GTA fan projects a sign of bigger things?
VideoGamesChronicle confirmed that Take-Two had filed lawsuits in the state of California and named 14 programmers behind the aforementioned fan projects. The lawsuit suggests that Take-Two is serious about wanting modders to stop what they are doing.
Rockstar Games' parent company detailed that those responsible for the fan project were "well aware that they do not possess the right to copy, adapt, or distribute derivative GTA source code, or the audiovisual elements of the games, and that doing so constitutes copyright infringement."
What's interesting here is that the modders aren't using the source code of GTA 3 and Vice City. Instead, what the modders have done is to recreate both classic titles from the ground up. Both mods also require users to have their own copies of GTA: Vice City and GTA 3 for asset purposes. However, in its lawsuit, Take-Two is taking the creators to court for their distribution of "derivative GTA source code."
As we previously mentioned in an earlier article where we covered Take-Two's decision to force several popular Grand Theft Auto mods to shut down, there's no longer any evidence of Take-Two's earlier statement on mods back in 2017.
One might wonder why exactly Take-Two is showing interest in mods created by fans. Just earlier this year, Rockstar had even rewarded modders. The company gave the group USD 10,000 to make a fan-made fix for Grand Theft Auto Online official.
Perhaps this sudden change in their perspective has something to do with their plans going forward? In particular, when it comes to remastering if not remaking older GTA games. If so, it would make sense. The rumors of a GTA trilogy being in development have floated around for the past couple of months. If Rockstar wants those projects to succeed, mods that basically accomplish the same thing are not welcome.
