'GTA 5 Online' Mod: Liberty City Project Is Shut Down

Liberty City is no longer coming to "Grand Theft Auto 5" ("GTA 5"). OpenIV, the most popular modding tool for the game, was urged by Take-Two Interactive to shut down the project.

Gamers will remember that OpenIV received a cease and desist letter from the parent company of Rockstar Games urging its closure.

In the latest turn of events, Take-Two decided to allow the "GTA 5" modding project to continue operation (after Rockstar interfered and pitched a more cordial policy that will serve both parties), but they have to close down the Liberty City project.

The folks behind OpenIV took to the GTA forums to break the good and bad news:

OpenIV never supported GTA Online modding and will not support it in the future. Our work will be continued within the Rockstar modding policy.

Modding will no longer be allowed in the online component of "GTA 5." Single-player modding will still be acceptable provided that the mods used there will overlap or affect the multiplayer in any way.

The shutdown of the Liberty City mode was carried out to prevent the violation of this new "GTA 5" modding rule. The project was supposed to add the fictional version of New York, which was the setting for "GTA 3" and GTA 4" into the game.

Many were looking forward for this project to come to fruition as it takes the game to new heights. Unfortunately, this will no longer be the case. As the OpenIV representatives explained:

Unfortunately, our highly anticipated mod Liberty City in GTA5 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.

OpenIV noted that they are "currently revising our plans for the future" so they have no information at the moment as to what they have for "GTA 5" gamers.