Take-Two Interactive has sent a cease and desist letter to the creators of the Grand Theft Auto 5 modding tool OpenIV. This tool in particular is used by modders of Grand Theft Auto 5, Grand Theft Auto 4, and Max Payne 3, and is a hugely popular tool within the Grand Theft Auto 5 community. Unfortunately, this is the end of the road for OpenIV.
The tool’s creator, GooD-NTS took to the GTA Forums to announce the closure of OpenIV, as well as giving a quote from the cease and desist letter itself. Apparently, Take-Two Interactive takes umbrage with OpenIV due to the fact that it allows “third parties to defeat security features of its software and modify that software in violation Take-Two’s rights [sic].”
The tool’s creator will not be taking any further action to try and keep OpenIV running, stating that although there’s the possibility of going to court on the matter, instead the tool will be taken offline. “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,” explained the post. “Spending time just to restore status quo is really unproductive, and all the money in the world can’t compensate the loss of time.”
Understandably, the modding community is currently in uproar over this, particularly given Grand Theft Auto 5’s esteemed history when it comes to mods. Some fans have even started a Change petition to save OpenIV, although given Take-Two Interactive’s move to an official cease and desist letter it’s unlikely that anything now can be changed without entering into court proceedings.
Instead, it looks as though the long and established story of OpenIV has come to an end. It’s perhaps the most tense moment in a history of friction between mod creators and Take-Two Interactive, with the publisher also taking action on a Grand Theft Auto 5 Red Dead Redemption mod and even sending private investigators after a modder. Whether there will be any further backlash to the publisher, however, remains to be seen.
Source: GTA Forums
