OpenIV team pulls the plug on the 'Liberty City in GTA V' mod

The team behind the Grand Theft Auto modding tool OpenIV that briefly shut down following a cease-and-desist order from Take-Two Interactive has issued a statement in which it shared some of its plans for the future of the software. It's mostly good news—as suggested a couple of weeks ago, development of OpenIV will continue apace. But the silver lining has a grey cloud.

"First of all, we want to say 'Thank you' to everyone who supported us in this tough situation. We’re very grateful for your support; for demonstration of the fact, that modding community is still a minority, but very vocal, creative and determined minority. You made the impossible and this story is already scribed into the history of PC gaming and the Internet itself," the OpenIV team wrote.

"The development of OpenIV will be continued as before. OpenIV never supported GTA Online modding and will not support it in the future. Our work will be continued within the Rockstar modding policy," it continued. "Unfortunately, our highly anticipated mod 'Liberty City in GTA V' will not be released because it clearly contradicts with Rockstar modding policy. Liberty City mod is a big loss for us, since it was a huge part of our motivation to push OpenIV functionality."

The Liberty City mod was a massive effort to recreate the entirety of Grand Theft Auto 4's home city in GTA5. The plan was to release it as single-player DLC, and it would actually exist in the game simultaneously with GTA5's Los Santos, on the other side of the water. Work had come a long way and it was expected to be ready for release this summer. It's great that OpenIV will continue, but the loss of Liberty City hurts.

As for what comes next, that appears to be up in the air: the OpenIV team said only that "we are currently revising our plans for the future."

TOPICS

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.