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The company behind 'Grand Theft Auto' has dropped a plan to punish modders

grand theft auto GTAV
grand theft auto GTAV

Rockstar

The publisher of the "Grand Theft Auto" series of games has dropped a plan to take legal action against independent developers of third party projects like mods for "Grand Theft Auto IV" and "Grand Theft Auto V," Engadget reports.

Earlier this month, game publisher Take Two sent a letter to the developers of the OpenIV modding tool, in which it asked for the tool to be taken down.

The tool was used to make modifications to both GTA IV's and GTA V's single player modes, and could "allow third parties to defeat security features of its software and modify that software in violation Take-Two's rights," according to Take Two's letter.

On June 14, facing the threat of legal action, the developers announced that they would cease distribution of the OpenIV tool.

A campaign of bad ratings from gamers all over the world immediately followed, culminating in a Change.org petition with over 77,000 signatures in which fans asked Take Two and "Grand Theft Auto" developer Rockstar Games to change their mind.

The plan worked, as Rockstar announced on its support forum this past weekend:

After discussions with Take-Two, Take-Two has agreed that it generally will not take legal action against third-party projects involving Rockstar’s PC games that are single-player, non-commercial, and respect the intellectual property (IP) rights of third parties. This does not apply to (i) multiplayer or online services; (ii) tools, files, libraries, or functions that could be used to impact multiplayer or online services, or (iii) use or importation of other IP (including other Rockstar IP) in the project.

The tool did in fact get an update over the weekend, and Rockstar Games has confirmed to Business Insider that OpenIV is available once again.

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Yep, @OpenIV is back! https://t.co/p5Qi3FwFO7 pic.twitter.com/e4jQBC36tN

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