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From: Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Oh, Take Two! You silly goofs!
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2025 13:29:33 -0500
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      [part of my continuing jocular recounting of 
       corporations shooting themselves in the foot. 
       This time we focus on the recent antics of 
       Rockstar/Take 2]

Remember a few threads back where we were talking about mods and
fan-made remakes, and wondering about companies that allowed that sort
of thing (specifically, Microsoft/Bethesda and the various Elder
Scroll remakes)? You know one company that definitely _doesn't_ like
fans doing that? Take-Two/Rockstar.

So, there was a fan-made remake of "Grand Theft Auto 3: Vice City". It
ported the game over to the RAGE engine* in "Grand Theft Auto V". It
was visually quite nice but also -at the time- still quite buggy and
incomplete. It required the end-user to own both GTA3:VC and GTA5 to
install and play. It actually wasn't that much fun to play (again,
bugs and incomplete quests) but it sure was pretty.

But it not only competed against the official "Definitive Edition" of
the GTA3 trilogy, but could "potentially interfere with [Take2's]
business interests" should they think of making their own from-scratch
remake of the game.**

Which, arguably, they were legally in the right to do (although mostly
their defense relies on protecting copyright than 'business interests'
or copyrights), it's still pretty shifty. Its possible that -with
enough resources thrown at the case- the modders /could/ have won some
concessions. But modders don't have those resources, so they went with
the other option.

Which (since they're in Russia) was essentially to give Take2/Rockstar
the middle finger, and not only keep the mod online, but rejigger it
so it no longer required GTA3 or 5 to run. They changed their mod into
a stand-alone download as a fuck-you to the company.

Which /definitely/ isn't legal or moral, but it's hard to not smile at
their attitude and actions. 

Because Take2/Rockstar _could_ have worked with the team. They could
have looked up from their bottom line and given the modders limited
rights. Prior to the Take-Two take-down, the modders were careful not
to violate copyright laws by not including Rockstars code in their
work. Yes, they were violating trademark, but Take Two could have
granted the modders limited rights in this area. But no, they chose
the hard way. They pissed off the modders and pissed off the fans, for
no real gain. I'm not saying the company was entirely in the wrong, or
what the modders did was right... but there were better ways of
handling things, and you picked the worst option.

And made the situation worse all around.

Good job, Take Two. Real class act all around.






* not to be confused with the IdTech 5 engine used in the game "Rage";
RAGE is the "Rockstar Advanced Game Engine" used and continually
developed since GTA4
** links are things to click on.
https://www.gamesradar.com/games/grand-theft-auto/former-gta-dev-weighs-in-on-rockstars-attempt-to-silence-vice-city-mod-that-ports-the-whole-game-to-gta-4-this-is-what-companies-are-supposed-to-do/