[UPDATE June 5 2017]: The developers behind the OpenIV mod have issued a statement on the future of the mod's development, now that it is no longer banned by Take Two. The team writes: "The development of OpenIV will be continued as before. OpenIV never supported GTA Online modding and will not support it in the future. Our work will be continued within the Rockstar modding policy."
One of the centerpiece OpenIV mod aspects was an attempt to import GTA IV's Liberty City into GTA V - and unfortunately, this will no longer continue development. "Liberty City mod is a big loss for us, since it was a huge part of our motivation to push OpenIV functionality," the team writes, citing Rockstar's modding policy that prevents "use or importation of other IP (including other Rockstar IP) in the project".
The original article continues below.
Just under two weeks ago, Take Two, parent company of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games, issued a cease and desist notification to Grand Theft Auto V mod, OpenIV. Over the weekend, Rockstar has issued a new statement which essentially reverses that decision, allowing OpenIV to continue development.
Rockstar's statement has been posted in the Rockstar Support forum, and clarified that the developer does allow single-player mods. The statement follows in full:
"Rockstar Games believes in reasonable fan creativity, and, in particular, wants creators to showcase their passion for our games. After discussions with Take-Two, Take-Two has agreed that it generally will not take legal action against third-party projects involving Rockstar’s PC games that are single-player, non-commercial, and respect the intellectual property (IP) rights of third parties. This does not apply to (i) multiplayer or online services; (ii) tools, files, libraries, or functions that could be used to impact multiplayer or online services, or (iii) use or importation of other IP (including other Rockstar IP) in the project. This is not a license, and it does not constitute endorsement, approval, or authorization of any third-party project. Take-Two reserves the right to object to any third-party project, or to revise, revoke and/or withdraw this statement at any time in their own discretion. This statement does not constitute a waiver of any rights that Take-Two may have with respect to third-party projects."
After discussions with Take-Two, Take-Two has agreed that it generally will not take legal action against third-party projects involving Rockstar’s PC games that are single-player, non-commercial, and respect the intellectual property (IP) rights of third parties.
It's possible to interpret from this statement, and from the fact that Rockstar - not Take Two - released a statement after the initial cease and desist was issued, that Rockstar was not fully in agreement with its parent company's actions in banning OpenIV. Alternatively, Rockstar was not aware of the cease and desist before it was actually issued, and would not have issued it themselves. Hopefully Take Two will be less trigger-happy when it comes to taking legal action against mods.
Since the reversal, a new update for OpenIV has been released. Lead developer GooD-NTS has yet to make a statement on the mod's return, however, so it's unclear in what capacity development will continue. We'll update this story when we hear more.
Success !
Good on you Rockstar. ;)
I wouldn't be patting R* on the back. They're the ones who made that paranoid, ridiculous choice in the first place.
Fantastic news
So I wonder after all, is it "for real" or is it just that T2 was _this_ unhappy with the shitstorm that followed?
I believe T2/Rockstar are genuinely concerned with the impact it has on multiplayer, which I believe is justified. Problem is taking this down also jeopardises singleplayer - so it's a difficult juggling act for them.
It's great to see they really want to encourage and support modding even if it isn't officially built into the game - I just hope people do it in the right way so the legit and good mods are not caught in the crossfire because of a few hacks / bad eggs.
All of this is PR talk, if they really wanted to fix this they would completely denounce what T2 did and move forward from there. No, this is just Rockstar shifting the blame away from themselves while washing their hands clean of the mess so T2 can take the fire and they can once again be everyone's favorite game company.
Now everyone will be patting Rockstar on the back and thinking that they are the good guys of the game industry but in reality they're just deploying the usual business tactics that have been done time and time again.
Don't get me wrong, this is good news but don't get ahead of yourselves and put Rockstar on some shining alter that they don't really belong on.
The modding community shows their voice!
Im pretty sure this was more a desperate "damage control" move from T2 ( and Rockstar to some extent , altough it was T2 who pushed this C&D letter forward ) after they saw strong opposition against their move . If they were smart - nothing this would even happen , as they would understand OpenIV was explicitly made for singleplayer component of the game . All this is a GREAT sign - because it shows that even the biggest companies cannot sc*ew around how they see it fit ... now onto Bethesda , too .
Bare and direct truth is - rarely there are big companies who CARE about customers , they only care about your wallet contents .
tl;dr version:
We need our customers, or rather, our shareholders, to be happy.
Amazing
Well that's good news.
It's dead simple:
-take something away via another medium
-appear benevolent by giving it back
-profit
"This does not apply to (i) multiplayer or online services; (ii) tools, files, libraries, or functions that could be used to impact multiplayer or online services, or (iii) use or importation of other IP (including other Rockstar IP) in the project."
You know... this is an Legal Hole to send Cease and desist mensages to sigle proyects (like exporting GTA IV map to GTAV) as they export pieces of information from an game (An Rockstar IP) to another.
The headline on the front page for this story currently links to the article about the shut down of OpenIV instead of this one.
If you read this and you can fix that, please do because finding this particular article is currently rather difficult.
It's fixed, thank you!
Someone hold the glasses, I'm going to break out the fine champagne here.
Cheers!
I don't own GTA 5 but I'm so happy that Rockstar made the decision to allow this mod to continue. Good on you rockstar :)
So glad that a real difference is made here between SP and MP!!!
And i have to agree with Rockstar and T2 that mods that influence MP gaming is not wanted, at least not by me.
So, great news!
Although it is said to hear that they can't use GTA4 'stuff' now, Open4 was completely based on that. Interesting to see if they can and will come back from this, and how??
leon