Grand Theft Auto V developer Rockstar Games has clarified both its own, and by extension publisher Take-Two Interactive’s, policy on what game modders can and can’t alter in the PC version of the game.
Now, Rockstar has updated its support page to further clarify what kind of modifications Take-Two will take legal action against but notes that, officially, neither party endorses unofficial game modifications.
It’s not a surprising clarification, but game developers should still pay attention to Take-Two and Rockstar’s recent confrontation with the Grand Theft Auto modding community.
While supporting player mods can sometimes add longevity to a game, situations like this show that it’s also important for a company to protect its intellectual property and, in the case of online games, its player-base.
“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 rights of third parties,” reads part of the update, though Rockstar notes that is said with only single player mods in mind.
The text of the full PC modding policy can be found on Rockstar’s support page.
The policy update comes just a week after Take-Two took aim at some major players in the PC modding sphere, including a trio of hacks and the popular tool Open IV, in an effort to protect the quality of Grand Theft Auto V’s multiplayer mode, Grand Theft Auto Online.
Update: A Rockstar Games representative has since told Motherboard that the company has reached out directly to the modder behind OpenIV and is “resolving the issue.”