Popular GTA modding tool OpenIV shuts down following cease and desist letter from Take-Two...

midian182

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Grand Theft Auto V is well-known for its numerous, player-created mods and brilliant machinima videos, so it comes as a surprise to learn that one of the game’s most popular modding tools, OpenIV, has been taken offline. Its developer claims the reason behind the shuttering is a cease and desist letter from GTA publisher Take-Two Interactive.

OpenIV lead developer ‘GooD-NTS’ revealed the news on gtaforums.com. They write that despite taking precautions such as not “messing with Online” and “no distribution of original data and code,” take-two's C&D notice claims OpenIV “allow[s] third parties to defeat security features of its software and modify that software in violation Take-Two’s rights.”

OpenIV, which was first released in 2008, is a multi-purpose editor and archive manager for GTA IV, GTA V, GTA: Episodes from Liberty City, and Max Payne 3. It’s incredibly popular among modding fans, and the shuttering has been met with a lot of anger.

The OpenIV team says that while they could fight the decision in court, the time this would take means a legal battle just isn’t worth it.

"Going to court will take at least few months of our time and huge amount of efforts, and, at best, we'll get absolutely nothing," the post says. "Spending time just to restore status quo is really unproductive, and all the money in the world can't compensate the loss of time."

One unusual aspect of the whole situation is that GooD-NTS says Take-Two’s letter is "illiterate both technically and grammatically." That certainly seems odd, especially given the size of the company behind it.

OpenIV is no longer available to download and won’t be receiving any more updates. Take-Two and developer Rockstar, which has publicly supported mods in the past, have yet to comment on the matter.

Update: Rockstar has sent the following statement to PC Gamer

Take-Two's actions were not specifically targeting single player mods. Unfortunately OpenIV enables recent malicious mods that allow harassment of players and interfere with the GTA Online experience for everybody. We are working to figure out how we can continue to support the creative community without negatively impacting our players.

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Isn't it sad when a companies greed on top of their unwillingness to serve ALL their subscribers causes them to do something like this? People buy the games for entertainment and find them even more enjoyable when mods, etc can be developed to take them so much further than the company is willing to go. Take-Two needs to take a serious look at their policies. They have and continue to make a fortune with their games ... is it really necessary to capture every nickle and should that be at the expense of their image?

Take-Two needs a Time-Out and a lesson in civic's
 
"GooD-NTS says Take-Two’s letter is 'illiterate both technically and grammatically."

Almost makes me wonder if the letter was a prank or hoax - like swatting someone, only slightly less likely to get someone shot.
 
How intelligent - trying to shut down people who make your games more popular. I wonder which corporate ladder-monkey came up with this brilliant plan.
 
Also note people, Take-Two is also one of the companies currently in a battle with the Voice actor's guild. They care about money above all else.
 
Also note people, Take-Two is also one of the companies currently in a battle with the Voice actor's guild. They care about money above all else.

Correct me if I'm wrong. But it's not Take-Two reneging on their contracts. It's the voice-actors who have contract remorse. They were probably thrilled to be getting paid in the beginning and are now thinking they deserve more than they agreed to in their contract.

Suzzanne Summers, Patrick Duffy, (place next greedy replaceable individuals name here) think that they can't be replaced. If your not happy with the money in the first place, don't sign the contract.

Now onto the article material as it's a whole different point. I don't support actively restricting mods so that the user can be milked to death with DLC. I don't remember developers doing this in the past. In fact, I imagine that developers actually encouraged mods in some cases to bolster sales of their base products. I guess RockStar doesn't see it that way.

Edit: There are people who successfully renegotiate contracts they aren't happy with. But it's ultimately up to the unhappy party to decide to stay or go. They make the final decision.
 
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...I don't support actively restricting mods so that the user can be milked to death with DLC. I don't remember developers doing this in the past. In fact, I imagine that developers actually encouraged mods in some cases to bolster sales of their base products...

EA started doing this post BF2. Dice used to release their own modding tools during BF2. With a few hacks, you could make those tools [actually] work with BF2142. With marching orders from EA, Dice never allowed mod on BF from Bad Company forward.

I like to point out that this was also the point where expansion packs for BF games started being called "DLC". Mods are good for gamers because they force the devs to actually put in some work into their expansions/DLC. When you're competing with free maps and re-skins, you need to actually release content with substance [plot] to get anyone to buy it.
 
I'm not part of the latest GTA crowd but decisions like this will ensure I will never be. Why does being incorporated seem to be a licence for ill-repute?
 
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