A couple of Grand Theft Auto fan projects have been shut down on GitHub by Take-Two Interactive. The games were reverse engineered versions GTA 3 i City of vice, which provided them with a number of modern improvements and upgrades. @ TezFunz2 reported the withdrawal on Twitter, noting that it likely occurred as a result of gaming establishments discovering the project and amplifying it. It’s impossible to say if the DMCA’s request might have anything to do with rumors about the official remasters of the GTA games, but fans who enjoyed these unofficial remasters will be disappointed, regardless.
@ TezFunz2’s Tweet can be found embedded below.
Remember the GTA 3 and Vice City reverse engineering project with “fan-created source code”?
Take-Two has withdrawn it. It’s not really surprising, as it hit the mainstream media just a few days ago. Http://t.co/Vp0BPyIHNp
– Tez2 (@ TezFunz2) February 20, 2021
Known as re3 and reVC, the projects were in operation for several years. In a recent interview with Eurogamer, the developers stated that they were surprised that Take-Two had not taken steps to eliminate the game and hoped that the publisher would not mind. They also had several future plans for remasters, including VR support and a ray tracing update. However, as @ TezFunz2 pointed out a Follow tweet, reverse engineering goes against the terms of the Take-Two service. On GitHub, Take-Two’s DMCA withdrawal request states that “the best and only solution is complete removal.”
Unfortunately, fan projects like this are often eliminated by publishers. It is disappointing for everyone to invest time and effort in these projects, but it is also a result that rarely seems questionable. Video game companies are quite protective of their intellectual property and will always intervene to do so.
For now, Grand Theft Auto fans will only have to wait for official remasters Grand Theft Auto III i City of vice they are actually under construction, and that was the reason for the withdrawal. It’s impossible to say for sure, but yes big car thief V seeing a next-generation update later this year, maybe a couple of old games will also receive remastering treatment.
Have you seen these unofficial remasters? Are you disappointed that Take-Two has removed them from GitHub? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all the games!