The GTA modder and superfan who goes by the handle Dark Space caught the attention of fans by recently releasing a playable recreation of the Grand Theft Auto 6 map in Grand Theft Auto 5. However, he has announced that he has ceased all work on the project after being struck by a takedown from Rockstar owner Take–Two.
Dark Space created the free-to-download map solely based on the official trailer shots of GTA 6 and some unverified leaks, then uploaded gameplay footage to his YouTube channel. GTA fans who have been feeling deprived of any new information about the upcoming game downloaded the modded map off FiveM en masse. That’s when he noticed messages from YouTube about his videos being taken down due to a copyright strike.
In an explanation video, the creator says that Take-Two requested that his videos be removed, resulting in his first copyright strike. Multiple strikes can result in the termination of an entire channel.
“I’ve also removed the download link to my mod, even though they didn’t ask me to,” Dark Space said in the video. “I think it’s smarter to get in front of them than waiting for their email that will never come. To avoid another copyright strike from Take-Two, I’m not going to use any footage from Grand Theft Auto in this video.” He went on to explain how he ended up in this situation, giving a brief history of the modding and map-making community for GTA and how they were trying to guess how big the map was going to be in GTA 6.
“So why did they remove my video and take away my month’s income that I spent two months hard to earn? Well, my guess is that the map is a little too accurate,” he continued. “They must feel some sort of threat from it existing because they feel that having a playable version of the map to drive around in could ruin the surprise and newness of GTA 6 when it releases.”
That kind of removal request seemed almost inevitable. Former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij recently commented on the frequent takedowns by Take-Two, saying they are “entirely predictable.”
“They will take down mods that interfere with their business interests,” he tweeted back in January. “The VC NextGen Edition mod for GTA4 directly competes with the Definitive Edition. The Liberty City preservation project (GTA4 in GTA5 engine) would interfere with a possible GTA4 remaster. (No idea whether they’re working on that. I think they should.) There’s no point getting angry about it. This is what companies are supposed to do.”
Grand Theft Auto 6 is scheduled to be released this fall on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. There has not been an announcement date for a PC release but that will likely be coming later.