After Take Two decided to try bully fans of a mod (that required the original content to play it), they deleted their entire Youtube channel and attempting to dismantle them, they decided to release it, without the need to own the game, and tepidly encouraged the internet to share and reupload it, making it nigh on impossible for Take Two to remove it.
Rockstar has repeatedly went after modding teams, with their release of "the definitive collection", poorly reviewed.
A modding group has doubled down on its plans to port GTA: Vice City content into GTA 4's engine, despite publisher Take-Two Interactive stepping in to apparently try and shut the enterprise down.
The project - known as GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition - ports the missions, side missions, cutscenes and world from Vice City into the GTA 4 engine. It was created by Revolution Team, and initially required players own a legitimate copy of GTA 4 in order to play.
But the group has now switched its plans, after the YouTube channel charting its progress was suddenly taken down - something Revolution Team has blamed Take-Two for. Now, the project has been released and can work on its own - without requiring players buy GTA 4 first - in response to what the group has called Take-Two's "cruel move".
"Friends, [you] probably already know that just two days before the release, Take-Two Interactive deleted our YouTube channel without any warning or attempt to contact us," reads a statement published by Revolution Team. "A huge amount of effort and time was invested into the channel, including hundreds of hours of streams dedicated to the mod's development."
"Additionally, we lost connection with our international audience, which was a significant part of our community. The teaser trailer for GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition gained over 100,000 views and 1500 comments in less than a day. Unfortunately, the channel was removed without any possibility of recovery."
The days since the channel's removal have been "emotionally tough", Revolution Team continued.
"The most important thing now is that we released the project on the promised date," the statement adds. "It's unclear how long it will remain publicly available or whether there will be demands to take it down. We are not opposed to reuploads, but we cannot openly encourage you to do so. Do as you see fit."
Revolution Team's initial plan to release the project with the requirement players needed the original GTA 4 game was designed to be a mark of "respect to the publisher", it said. "However, over the past two days, we have completely rebuilt the project, and it is now available as a standalone 'installation-ready package'."
Footage of the mod in action has since been released on YouTube, and you can check it out below.
This is not the only GTA mod to make headlines recently.
Earlier in this month, a mod known as Liberty City Preservation Project was taken down after its creators were contacted by Rockstar. "This isn't a DMCA, rather a friendly takedown, mutually agreed upon by all parties involved. There is no negativity between us and Rockstar Games / Take-Two Interactive," the Liberty City Preservation Project said.
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