Somebody recreated all of GTA 4’s Liberty City in GTA 5 aaaaand it’s gone

In what has become fine tradition, I have learned of an amazing mod on the same day I have learned that the mod has been kiboshed by publishers. The mod in question is the GTA 5 Liberty City Preservation Project, a six year project that rebuilds GTA 4’s Liberty City in GTA 5’s world. It launched earlier this month – and now it is no more, for Rockstar have descended like briefcase-wielding peregrine falcons and performed what is being called a “friendly takedown” on modding team World Travel. My brother did a “friendly takedown” on me once, and my elbow still doesn’t bend the right way.

As reported by PCGamer, team member NK Jellman broke the news on the project’s Discord. “Due to the unexpected attention that our project received and after speaking with Rockstar Games, we have decided to take down the Liberty City Preservation project,” he wrote. “We appreciate all the support that the project has received, and we look forward to continuing to pursue our passion for modding the Grand Theft Auto series.”

This may seem a very cheerful way to announce that six years of work have been for naught, but Jellman insists World Travel have nothing but love for Our Friends At Rockstar, to say nothing of Their Friends At Parent Company Take-Two. “We’ve noticed a lot of misconceptions and theories surrounding our latest announcement and would like to make a few things clear,” added NK Jellman in a later Discord post. “This isn’t a DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act claim], rather a friendly takedown, mutually agreed upon by all parties involved. There is no negativity between us and Rockstar Games / Take-Two Interactive.”

Prior to its mutually agreed destruction, the GTA 5 Liberty City Preservation Project brought back the entirety of GTA 4’s warped New York complete with NPCs, the subway, the police forces, civilian traffic, car models, radio stations, and optional HD textures. All this for the low, low price of nothing at all.

Rockstar and Take-Two have a track record, of course, for bringing the hammer down on more ambitious GTA mods, though the criteria for a “friendly takedown” or worse remain ambiguous. This isn’t the only GTA 5 Liberty City mod. You could take it all as evidence that Rockstar are working on their own GTA 4 update, but according to reports they shelved such plans in 2022 to focus on GTA 6.