UPDATE: The team behind the mod reassured that it was a friendly mutual agreement to take the mod down.

The parent company of Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, strikes again by shutting down another fan-made modification for GTA after it gained immense popularity and love. This time it’s a single-player mod for GTA 5 that expands the world of Los Santos to Liberty City from GTA 4.

The mod is a homage to the beloved fictional version of New York City, Liberty City, in the most immersive way yet. Easter eggs can be found with the smallest attention to details. RockstarINTEL went deeper into the mod in an interview with the team behind the mod “World Travel,” who were already hesitant about releasing the mod to the public due to Rockstar’s history with modders, but decided to go further since a lot of similar mods were being paywalled.

In a statement shared on Discord, the platform where the mod was both hosted and freely available for all users, one of the server staff members, “nkjellman,” announced today that following discussions with Rockstar Games, they have reached the decision to discontinue the mod project to possibly avoid any legal repercussions or a takedown of the server.

Due to the unexpected attention that our project received and after speaking with Rockstar Games, we have decided to take down the Liberty City Preservation project.

This development is not unexpected, as Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive have previously removed various single-player mods, some of which have led to significant legal issues. While the exact reasons for Rockstar’s request to take the mod offline remain unclear, it is evident that they are vigilant in protecting their intellectual property. The mod in question appears to have incorporated elements from GTA 4 into GTA 5, which likely contributed to the concerns regarding IP infringement.

Just 8 years ago in 2017, Rockstar urged Take-Two to be less strict on fan-made mods after the outrage that happened after shutting down the popular mod toolkit OpenIV.

Rockstar Games believes in reasonable fan creativity, and, in particular, wants creators to showcase their passion for our games. 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.

The Liberty City Preservation Project was just released for public a month ago.