A Russian modding team, Revolution Team, has released its "GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition" mod despite Take-Two Interactive's efforts to remove related YouTube content. This ambitious project transplants Vice City's world, cutscenes, and missions into the GTA 4 engine (2008), a significant undertaking.
The modders revealed that Take-Two abruptly deleted their YouTube channel, resulting in the loss of hundreds of hours of streaming content and a significant portion of their community. The teaser trailer alone garnered over 100,000 views and 1,500 comments before the takedown. While acknowledging the emotional impact of this action, the team prioritized releasing the mod as promised. They initially intended to require a legitimate GTA 4 copy for gameplay, but the channel's removal prompted them to release it as a standalone installer to ensure wider accessibility.
Revolution Team emphasizes the mod's non-commercial nature, created by fans for fans, and expresses gratitude to the original game's developers. They suggest this project might set a precedent for the modding community, challenging Take-Two's actions.
Take-Two's aggressive approach to modding is well-documented, with past takedowns of various mods, including an AI-powered GTA 5 story mode and a VR mod for Red Dead Redemption 2. The recent Liberty City Preservation Project removal further exemplifies this pattern. Interestingly, Take-Two sometimes hires modders for Rockstar Games, and some removed mods have later been incorporated into official remasters.
A former Rockstar Games technical director, Obbe Vermeij, offered a corporate perspective, stating that Take-Two and Rockstar are protecting their business interests. He cited the "GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition" as direct competition to the "Definitive Edition" and the Liberty City Preservation Project as potential interference with a possible GTA 4 remaster. He suggests that the best-case scenario is the allowance of mods that don't impact their business, using the Dreamcast GTA 3 mod (DCA3) as an example.
The future of the "GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition" mod remains uncertain. Will Take-Two attempt to remove the mod itself, or will this defiant act by the modding community serve as a turning point in the ongoing conflict between Take-Two and the modding community? Only time will tell.
