Rockstar's cool with mods, just don't mess with their online services

The developers behind Grand Theft Auto want the world to know that they're perfectly fine with modders messing around with their games, they just want them to stick to single player while they're doing it.

Grand Theft Auto V publisher Take-Two Interactive sent a cease and desist letter to the creator of OpenIV, a prominent GTA modding tool popularly used in GTAV's single player. The game's developer, Rockstar Games, just released a new statement clarifying that single player mods are allowed, but mods that affect multiplayer may be subject to legal action.

Rockstar Games believes in reasonable fan creativity, and, in particular, wants creators to showcase their passion for our games. 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. This is not a license, and it does not constitute endorsement, approval, or authorization of any third-party project. Take-Two reserves the right to object to any third-party project, or to revise, revoke and/or withdraw this statement at any time in their own discretion. This statement does not constitute a waiver of any rights that Take-Two may have with respect to third-party projects.

Take-Two's action against OpenIV seemed to imply that the company would be taking a stand against all GTAV mods, not just the ones that affect multiplayer. This upset the GTAV community, who retaliated by barraging GTAV's Steam page with negative reviews and starting a Change.org petition with over 75,000 signatures.

Although Rockstar has cleared the air on what it deems acceptable as far as game modding goes, OpenIV still has the potential to affect GTA Online because it can manipulate all of GTAV's files. Even though OpenIV's creator told Motherboard that he never intended for the mod to be used online, users can still decide to mess with OpenIV in the GTA Online environment.

At least this assures modders who only touch single player that they'll be in the clear.