Take-Two has shut down several long-active and hugely popular Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and San Andreas modes in the past month. Modes that were closed with a DMCA warning included GTA: Underground, Kadakash’s GTA: AI-Upscaled HD Mode for San Andreas; and the PC version of GTA Vice City Stories.
During the last investor meeting, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick spoke for the first time about these closures, saying that as a company they are actually flexible about this, but that a mode threatens the economy or that they remove the modes when there is bad behavior and they will continue to do so.
Of course, Zelnick didn’t explain how an HD Texture Pack mode threatens the gaming economy. Or how a mode like GTA Underground, where all it does is put together maps of GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, Manhunt and Bully, can be considered bad behavior.
The reasons why older games like San Andreas and Vice City are still selling are the exquisite mods prepared for these games, but Take-Two has shown that it will disregard such efforts according to its enjoyment.
