GTA V VR Mod Destroyed By DMCA Takedown
You might have seen an entertaining youtube video about GTA V VR and wondered how you can get in on the action. After all, the Grand Theft Auto series of games, and especially GTA V, it’s latest iteration, seems like it would be a ton of fun to play in VR. For a while the GTA VR mod R.E.A.L. fulfilled this promise on PCVR. The R.E.A.L. mod allowed you to take to the mean streets of Los Santos in fully immersive VR, and enjoy the fantastic open world of GTA 5 in VR. Unfortunately those days are over, and here we will talk about why.
The Origin of the GTA V VR Mod
The GTA V VR Mod was the brainchild of a prolific modder named Luke Ross. He is infamous for porting many flatscreen games to VR through his R.E.A.L. mod project. He has, using the REAL framework he created, ported an absolute ton of flatscreen games to Virtual Reality. He is also well known for porting games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Dark Souls to VR. Looking through Luke Ross’s catalog of ports shows that he has been widely dedicated to modding flatscreen games into Virtual Reality for quite some time.
Luke Ross’s Patreon Page
The GTA 5 VR Mod was actually one of Luke Ross’s earlier projects, and for obvious reasons. GTA fans have been clamoring and waiting for a GTA VR game for quite some time. With no concrete news of the promised Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas VR on the way, it would be great to be able to experience GTA V VR in the meantime. There aren’t any Virtual Reality games that offer such an expansive open world as any in the Grand Theft Auto series, so if you want an open world VR game, then modding a flatscreen one like GTA V is the only option.
The GTA V VR Mod DMCA Takedown
Unfortunately, what was a great idea was met with trouble by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., the owner of Rockstar Games, which is the studio behind Grand Theft Auto V. Despite not having any VR compatibility built into their own game, Take-Two interactive issues a DMCA takedown notice to Luke Ross for his R.E.A.L. mod for GTA VR, Red Dead Redemption 2 VR, and the Mafia VR series. This notice was issued on July 6, 2022 with a 48 hour period for Luke Ross to remove the materials or face potential further legal action.
An Excerpt From Luke Ross’s Announcement of the DMCA Notice
Take-Two has been infamous for the destruction of mods for GTA V, and GTA V VR was no exception. Usually the purpose of a DMCA takedown notice is to keep others from abusing a company or individual’s copyrighted content. Luke Ross had VR mods for a ton of Take-Two’s games on his Patreon, which requires donations to access. These games included GTA 5 VR, Red Dead Redemption 2 VR, Mafia: Definitive Edition VR, Mafia II: Definitive Edition VR, Mafia III: Definitive Edition VR.
Luke Ross’s reaction to these takedowns was to attempt to contact Take-Two Interactive Inc. and receive some clarification as to what exactly they wanted taken down, or to try and bargain with them to rescind their DMCA notice. Unfortunately, Take-Two did not respond, and Patreon even threatened to remove Luke Ross’s Patreon pages if they were found in violation of the DMCA.
Luke Ross’s GTA VR Github Page
Take-Two offered no response, and so all Luke Ross could do was remove literally everything pertaining to these mods, which was likely what Take-Two wanted in the first place.
Luke Ross argues that his mods in no way copied Take-Two’s assets, and all required a valid copy of the original games to play. In fact he hints that his mods probably increased sales of all of these games, because they allowed VR enthusiasts to enjoy them as well. Whether or not this is true is impossible to know, but Luke Ross does have a sound logic behind what he states. It’s natural to wonder whether or not Take-Two’s constant copy right claims and DMCA strikes for mods of their games is a good policy for their business.
Can You Still Play GTA VR?
If you’re wondering whether or not you can still play the GTA VR Mod, then the answer is... kind of. While there may be some old versions of the mod floating around on the internet somewhere, there is no official support or available downloads for it via Luke Ross’s GTA V VR R.E.A.L. github home page, or his Patreon. Hopefully a GTA 5 VR is in the works, and that was the reason for the takedown, but it has already been a year with no concrete news from Rockstar or Take-Two.
So GTA VR is dead and Take-Two effectively killed it, or at least that’s the story that we have. Due to Take-Two Interactive Software’s refusal to comment on the situation to Luke Ross or any journalistic publication that asked for comment, we only have Luke Ross’s story on the matter. Whether or not the takedown was legally sound in the first place there is no effective way for Luke Ross to fight it in court with the resources of a single hobbyist mod developer.
So without the funds for a day in court that’s the situation. The GTA V VR mod is dead. If you’d like more information on the mod and this entire battle then check out Luke Ross’s github page for the GTA 5 VR R.E.A.L. mod. If you would like to get access to some of Luke Ross’s other R.E.A.L. mods for games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Horizon: Zero Dawn, then check out his patreon page.
