Take-Two Takedowns Hint At Multiple GTA Remasters
It definitely sounds like Rockstar is ready to rock, as those wild rumours of Grand Theft Auto remasters are going into overdrive. While things have gone a little quiet on the future of GTA and no one's quite sure when (if ever) GTA 6 will release, a whole crop of remasters would keep us busy.
Grand Theft Auto first raced into our lives back in 1997, and although there probably isn't much merit in trying to remaster the top-down era of the franchise, things took a leap forward with the introduction of the 2D universe in 2001's GTA III.
Loyal fans have been waiting patiently to see Claude get remastered, while there's also a lot of merit in a San Andreas and Vice City remasters. Although Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive are yet to give these rumours the green light, a series of mod takedowns have piqued our interest.
Why do fans think multiple GTA remasters are on the way?
According to Kotaku, a mod repository called LibertyCity has reported that multiple mods relating to older GTA games have been pulled. Weirdly, the site itself isn't currently accessible. A statement from LibertyCity admin jdayke apparently read, "All these mods were ports of the locations, cities, cars, and characters of old Rockstar Games titles on newer Grand Theft Auto engines. The mods won’t be available to download on LibertyCity anymore.”
Among those mods removed, there was the popular Vice Cry: Remastered that ported 2002's beloved map into GTA V. Also on the chopping block was SA2LC, which added San Andreas to GTA III. Finally, mods called OpenManhunt and Bullworth (adding assets from Manhunt and Bully) were also taken down. Interesting, could the latter also hint at Manhunt and Bully remasters?
The latest wave of takedowns comes just a month after Take-Two slapped modding side ModDB with a wave of DMCA notices. ModDB is a much larger site, but with the GTA overseer extending its reach further into the World Wide Web, no modding site seems safe.
Will these takedowns lead to multiple GTA remasters?
It's just wishful thinking for now, however, it's an easy assumption that the takedown of old mods are conveniently timed for remasters. Earlier this month, we covered how Take-Two is working on “iterations of previously released titles”. GTA remasters are an easy sell, however, the idea that Bully will be revisited has also been thrown around before.
Whatever is going on, the GTA modding community is in a state of disarray right now. When the ModDB, incident happened, Community Manager David Driver-Gomm tweeted, "I just want to state now we literally can’t do much else but comply with a DMCA, but as a modder of various games who has shipped a few mods in his time, this has saddened me too. I wish there was something else to be done".
Advising modders on what they should do, he continued, "It is worth noting the EULAs for a lot of the [Grand Theft Auto games] forbid modification, so if I were you, I would try to pivot into modding games less likely to result in this outcome, or at least make backups of your work in case it gets challenged later".
Basically, if you're a modder or like playing old GTA games on newer engines through modding, we'd say watch out. It's clear Take-Two has an impressive roadmap of content on the way, and although GTA 6 is likely years away, there could be much more than the next-gen GTA V port to keep you busy.
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