Rockstar Games, Take-Two apparently back off from suing PC game modders

Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive seem to have made a U-turn with their decision to sue PC game modders for the distribution and usage of OpenIV modding tool in Grand Theft Auto 5 single-player and multiplayer campaigns. The game developer and publisher have apparently backed off from suing PC game modders on certain conditions after several GTA players and fans expressed their ire with bad ratings for the GTA series on Steam.

A Change.org petition has also been filed with over 77,000 signatures amassed in retaliation of Take-Two's directive to ban the use of OpenIV tool in Rockstar's immensely successful action-RPG game.

The GTA publisher Take-Two had earlier sent a cease and desist legal notice to the developers of the modding tool, instructing them to stop distributing OpenIV.

In a recent post on its support forum, Take-Two has promised to withdraw its legal action against distribution or use of third-party apps or mods in their game as long as they do not violate the publisher's legal terms and guidelines.

Take-Two has revealed a checklist of guidelines asking developers to adhere to them if they wanted the publisher not to pursue legal action against them. Here is what Rockstar Games announced in its recent post on support forums regarding those guidelines:

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.

Following the announcement, Rockstar Games has reportedly told PC Gamer and Motherboard that it is in talks with OpenIV developers to prevent the use of such mods in the online version of the game. The OpenIV tool has since been updated to a new build and we can only hope that those features harming the spirit of the game have been removed for good.