Take-Two has issued a DMCA takedown notice for the VR mods that were available for Red Dead Redemption 2, Grand Theft Auto 5 and the Mafia games. Created by Luke Ross, these mods allowed you to play Rockstar’s games in VR. And, similarly to some other “enhancing” mods, Take-Two attempts to take them down.
As Luke Ross stated, none of his modifications are built using software belonging to Take-Two. Moreover, these VR modifications are not intended to replace Take-Two’s games, nor are they a means of exploiting Take-Two’s proprietary IP or assets. And lastly, as with all mods, these VR mods require that users buy and own the games before they can add them.
A sad day for the Flat2VR modding community. @Take2Interactiv has submitted a quite anti-consumer DMCA request to remove ALL VR Mods for their games (GTA V, RDR2, Mafia, etc.)@LukeRoss_00 Has always been extremely careful not to use any IP in his mods. pic.twitter.com/GH6OX1eZIy
— Flat2VR (@Flat2VR) July 6, 2022
Take-Two has been known for taking down multiple mods in the past. Not only that, but the company had also filed a lawsuit against the team that reverse-engineered GTA3 & GTA Vice City. For what it’s worth, Take-Two lost that last battle. However, it can give you an idea of the company’s practices.
Recently, Eurogamer featured an article dedicated to Luke Ross. Perhaps that’s what prompted Take-Two to issue this DMCA takedown? After all, these VR mods have been available for a while.
Anyway, we currently don’t know whether these VR mods will re-surface or not. And lets at least hope that other companies won’t be as hostile to modders as Take-Two is.
