OpenIV is the most popular modding tool for the Grand Theft Auto series, along with Max Payne 3. It has been used for nearly a decade, but today, the lead developer posted on gtaforums.com that they received an official Cease & Desist letter from Take-Two, the parent company for Rockstar and the Grand Theft Auto franchise.
Take-Two are claiming that OpenIV allows "third parties to defeat security features of its software and modify that software in violation Take-Two's rights." He clarifies that the letter is illiterate both technically and grammatically, and that they do have the option to go to court to prove that modding is fair use and what they're doing is legal. But he says they're not going to.
"Going to court will take at least a few months of our time and huge amount of effort, and, at best, we'll get absolutely nothing. Spending time just to restore status quo is really unproductive, and all the money in the world cant compensate the loss of time.
"So, we decided to agree with their claims and we're stopping distribution of OpenIV. It was a hard decision, but when any modding activity has been declared illegal, we can't see any possibilities to continue this process, unless top management of Take-Two company makes an official statement about modding, which can be used in court."
A sad day indeed for the GTA modding community. Will you stop playing GTA V now that mods are harder to source and install, if not impossible? Let us know in the comments.
