Just had a chat with YouTube support. tldr; if you have a channel that contains any footage from GTA, RDR2, Manhunt etc, you are in the hands of Take-Two IP sharks, and they can basically takedown anything they want even the entire channel, regardless of how fun or how "unique" your videos are. Basically, Take-Two decides which video is "Ok" and which video isn't, YouTube doesn't care. Note: I'm seeing some people asking for links in other YouTube videos. As a general rule, DON'T download random copies shared by people through unverified links. The mod includes .exe and .dll files, both of which can be easily replaced with malware. Do not expose yourself to risks. Even if you decide to download it from a source you trust, there remains a significant chance that you will obtain an outdated and buggy version of the mod.
1 year ago (edited) | 55
Sorry that happened man, that’s incredibly frustrating. Hopefully it doesn’t stop you from doing your incredible work on GTA, Bannerlord and beyond. Your talent and passion has created so much opportunity and joy from people playing PE, it’s a shame that a huge company decided to pick on an individual doing work far beyond the scope of one solo dev. Keep it up brother 💪
1 year ago | 20
The very idea that a video could be taken down just for depicting Grand Theft Auto V is outrageous. One of the most popular games in YouTube history, and it was absolutely to the game's benefit. I bought the game BECAUSE of how fun it looked in YouTube content
1 year ago (edited) | 19
Hello, I subscribed to your channel primarily because you upload mods that are not only to my taste (bannerlord) but also really inherently represent the future of modding as a whole. What I have seen from you so far is that you as a single person are making these game companies tremble by creating the most fun aspects by yourself. They are afraid that by people reaching your content and your mods that they will lose huge monetization opportunities on their next projects or updates because more people will be interested in your modifications rather then whatever second rate- content they might release in comparison. Really, I comment like twice a year, but for me these words are very much a necessity to type. Good luck.
1 year ago | 3
Mods are what keep a game alive and people buying it.
1 year ago | 8
Same, I’ve been with YouTube since 2009 and during all that time. I probably got one copyright violation from a Minecraft video back in 2014. Until 2023 where it seems every month it’s “video ineligible for monetization ” or “this video was taken down by - 3rd party “ “or __ claimed this video” it’s frustrating in these times
1 year ago | 0
I am so lucky - I managed to get it working I think a day or 2 before this got taken down. It was one of the most amazing things I've seen in GTA, and I think serves as a great showcase for improved NPCs in games. Sorry to hear 😢
1 year ago | 9
This is outrageous. They are acting like apple or something. I hope you are able to be empowered to continue creating.
1 year ago | 1
nintendo'nun abuksabuk teliflerinden sonra, aynı niyetle yapılıp yapılmadığı belirsiz olsa da - ki oynanış videoları kaldığına göre farklı ancak yine de nintendo'nun telifleriyle aynı antipatiyi yaratma açısından eşdeğer -, rockstar'dan da telif işlerine girmelerini görmek tatsız. geçmiş olsun, harcadığın vaktin karşılığını alman dileğiyle.
1 year ago | 3
I managed to get it even if it has been taken down and I must say it's incredible, I re-download those huge 106GB of GTA V only to test it out! And I'm not disappointed at all. This is a very impressive experience so thank you Bloc! I wanted to try to modify any character brain but I don't think I can tho? And as always, Rockstar/Take-Two are juste greedy and chaotic, unfortunately no one can stop them as long as they're so powerful with their game impact. I hope you'll manage to legally work on it again :(
1 year ago | 0
I strongly suggest moding next Mafia series as those games are quite similar to GTA just with more human developers. Next also could be Arma series which damn lacked soul in their NPCs :DD There are still a lot of opportunities besides this triple A thing. Plus in case your project does work that well in depth consider reaching out to IndieStones Project Zomboie creators now they are with Aiteron (if I recall his nickname right) are creating NPCs, so this should make them interested & maybe you could implement first ever such system in gamint history as they want uniq experience lf self living world with player & without player.
1 year ago | 1
I think this probably has to do with them releasing GTA VI and wanting to increase sales as much as possible. If GTA V has mods for guns, vehicles, map changes, and now a story mod that even has npc's with ai driven dialogue, some people might just stick to V.
1 year ago | 1
If you are truly puzzled about why they decided to take action against this mod, here is my opinion (coming from someone who owns a game studio for +5 years and almost 10 in the industry): What you did, is huge, and is most likely one of the next big steps in gaming. AI driven gameplay/NPCs/stories and so on are being investigated deeply by most big gaming companies who are looking to release future products with those features as key selling points. Your Mod, poses a threat to possibly one of the mayor key selling points for a future GTA game - maybe not the next one, but the one after that. If your mod becomes popular when it comes out as a feature in a GTA game, it won’t have as big enough impact, your basically getting now the attention they want to have later on. Also, if your mod becomes popular they are at risk of modding AI into GTA becoming a thing for the GTA community which would be the real threat for them in this situation. Not only that, but if\when they implement AI they will have to limit its features a LOT due to legal constraints, while you can do what you want, and people will criticize de feature comparing it to your plug-in. Kinda sucks, but I would probably do the same if I was a Take Too executive knowing how much money my company was investing into AI tests (no proof this last part happens but I would think so)
1 year ago (edited) | 1
They make a lot of money from shark cards if your mod have been succeed, multiple players will jump from the multiplayer to the single player. They can't afford that.
1 year ago | 2
Thanks for the information. I have seen Youtubers in similar situations, when they finally did talk with someone they were able to resolve. But, in those cases Take-Two was not involved. At this point is there any method you have to provide the documentation?
1 year ago | 0
Nothing surprising. You like GTA when people worked on it not only for profit, but also loved their job and respected their community. It used to be the same with cinema market, but now they care about money they don't even need to live. I won't be surprised if someday a mod like that comes from them. Notice that back when Dota 1 existed, while Blizzard was still around as we knew it, everything was fine. Commerce is a normal thing from a business perspective, but it's unfortunate that there's no room left within it for free self-expression.
1 year ago | 0
Bloc
Take-Two Interactive(Rockstar) Removes My "AI Powered GTA V: Story Mode with AI NPCs" mod
Hello everyone, sorry for this slightly a long post, but reason of that is I want to touch on some things.
Yesterday, Take-Two Interactive hit my channel with copyright strike about my video on GTA V mod and YouTube removed the video immediately without giving any chance to explain myself. The reason for this takedown shown by Take-Two Interactive to YouTube was because I used their software (GRAND THEFT AUTO V) in the video. No one from Take-Two Interactive contacted and ask me anything prior to this, they just took down the video out of nowhere. Two days ago, my account on Netlify was also suspended. I used Netlify to host the installation guide for the mod. I should not claim anything without proof, of course, since netlify didn't bother to give any explanation, but to me, it looks like these two cases are seem to be related. A video that had over 100,000 views and an approximate video like rate of 98.4%. Hence, it's not related to negative reception, on the contrary, the video is liked by many, as you can understand from this ratio. I contacted claimant email address shown on YouTube (which was Take2 email address), was hoping that there might be a small misunderstanding or that they could explain the reasoning behind it. Perhaps this occurred automatically, but the evidence suggests a deliberate manual DMCA takedown request from them. I also didn't get any response back. It looks like they are just attacking to mod from all fronts.
About the mod itself, at this moment, nexusmods version has been removed, by DMCA Takedown by Take-Two Interactive just today. Most likely this is what will happen to gta5mods too but I removed that one myself to avoid any legal trouble.
I must say, as a person who grew up with the Grand Theft Auto series and enjoyed all the games throughout the years, this hostile attitude towards me and the mod is very disheartening. This copyright strike on my channel hinders my ability to monetize my videos for the upcoming 3 months and remains as a mark on the channel, but more importantly, this can lead to account termination if it continues. If there was something violating the policy in the video (such as something I said, the thumbnail, or something in the description, etc.), I would be happy to discuss that with Take2's contact person if they would just send me an email. Instead, they chose a non-communicative approach. If the real reason of this takedown is really me using GTA V in the video, then one might ask, if using GTA V in the video is a copyright strike reason, how is it possible that there are millions of YouTube videos on here at this very moment that showcases or simply does lets-play videos for over a decade without any problems? Unfortunately, this seems to look like an excuse to attack and take a stance against the mod. Which is somewhat puzzling to me, considering that the mod itself is both FREE and open-source. The mod is available at two separate locations for download, where you don't even need to register on those pages to be able to download it. The mod can be played freely without any cost, as demonstrated by the thousands of players who have downloaded and enjoyed it thus far. The mod does not utilize any voices from Grand Theft Auto nor does it distribute anything it shouldn't. I haven't even included my Patreon link in any of the mod descriptions or videos to avoid any potential controversy. I am not a lawyer, but as far as I am aware, mod is not violating any Grand Theft Auto or YouTube policy. Whether you like it or not, or dislike the idea of having AI in video games, is one thing. However, while the mod itself does not appear to be violating anything, removing the video and issuing a copyright strike without any communication is another matter. I can, of course, raise an objection through YouTube's objection system, but this escalates things to legal authorities. I am a single modder who does this in my free time for fun, so I don't have the resources to legally defend myself in this situation. Frankly, I also don't want to spend time on this.
Because I was never actually a YouTuber and my subscriber count stayed in mid to low range, I never relied on YouTube's revenue, so not being able to get monetized for 3 months is not a life changing deal for me. However, the knowledge that all my videos will continue to display ads to you, someone who benefits from my videos and efforts while not allowing me to get anything, is a factor that discourages me from creating more content and mods in the future. Knowing that large corporations can issue strikes based on arbitrary reasons, which can cause your work to go in vain in moments, is also discouraging to say the least. I am posting this post while understanding that not many people will be able to see it due to the modest size of my channel. Nevertheless, I hope that my subscribers, at least, can read and comprehend the unpleasant aspect of this action taken by one of the world's biggest game company. I would also like to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me thus far, whether through subscriptions or contributions. If you're inclined, please consider visiting Patreon and supporting me there. I believe that may be the only remaining option to support me at this point.
I am hoping that anyone who enjoyed this mod will remember this dishonest action taken by Take-Two whenever they hear any news about the Rockstar. Rather than chasing small mods, perhaps they should focus on creating proper remakes with better pricing policy or should stop removing cars from Online to sell same cars to people :)
I will end this post with Rockstar's own words on modding, and I invite you to consider whether you believe this action aligns with their public statement from 2022 or not:
"Rockstar Games has always believed in reasonable fan creativity and wants creators to showcase their passion for our games"
1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 195