2025 is set to be the year Rockstar Games drops what might be the most overhyped video game in history, Grand Theft Auto 6, a game almost certainly laced with forced diversity and inclusivity.

While the media machine cranks out endless propaganda for the upcoming “masterpiece,” which is highly likely to follow in the disastrous footsteps of Cyberpunk 2077, Rockstar and its corporate overlords at Take-Two Interactive are once again proving how much they despise their own fanbase by cracking down on yet another community-made mod.

For the past decade, Rockstar and Take-Two have been bleeding idiots dry with shark cards for GTA Online, all while aggressively nuking fan-made mods of their older titles with DMCA takedowns. One of their most notorious victims was GTA Underground, an ambitious San Andreas mod that seamlessly merged the worlds of GTA III, Vice City, Bully, and Manhunt, each complete with their own pedestrians, vehicles, and atmosphere.

But instead of celebrating a passionate fan project that expanded their legacy, Rockstar and Take-Two did what they do best, snuff out fun and free enjoyment in the name of corporate greed.

Fearing legal action after a DMCA takedown courtesy of Take-Two, the GTA Underground development team voluntarily shut down the project in September 2021. Just months later, Take-Two shat out The Definitive Edition, a half-assed, censored, and bug-ridden remaster of the iconic RenderWare-based GTA Trilogy.

Rockstar (through Take-Two) targeted GTA Underground under the pretense of protecting their intellectual property and future projects, but let’s be real, they weren’t safeguarding their legacy, they were stomping out competition from passionate fans providing what a billion-dollar corporation refuses to deliver.

Now, they’ve bared their fangs yet again. This time, it’s the GTA 5 Liberty City Preservation Project (LCPP), a fan-made recreation of GTA IV’s iconic Liberty City within GTA 5. Released this month after six years of work, it even launched with Steam Deck compatibility, a level of care and effort that Rockstar hasn’t shown in years.

This was an insanely impressive piece of work, bringing Rockstar’s warped take on New York into the loosely “evolved” RAGE engine that powered both GTA IV and GTA V. Despite Rockstar’s best efforts to kill modding, including an attack on OpenIV, the single most important modding tool for their “HD” era games, modders continue flexing their might.

But, as usual, the joy was short-lived.

Like clockwork, the mod gained traction on social media, hit the mainstream gaming press, and eventually caught the attention of Take-Two’s legal goons. And just like that, it was over, the developers confirmed that The Liberty City Preservation Project was being taken down after “conversations” with Rockstar.

The Liberty City Preservation Project, developed by the World Travel modding team since 2018, made a huge splash earlier this month, giving GTA V players a chance to roam GTA IV’s Liberty City once again, with better visuals, smoother gameplay, and a more casual, less realistic foundation.

The mod featured the entire Liberty City map, complete with traffic, pedestrians, weather effects, and more, along with overhauled lighting, enhanced textures, and new scenarios. But thanks to Rockstar’s mod-hating corporate overlords, that’s all gone now.

Lead modder nkjellman broke the news on Discord, stating, “Due to the unexpected attention our project received and after speaking with Rockstar Games, we have decided to take down the Liberty City Preservation Project.” He went on to say, “We appreciate all the support the project has received and look forward to continuing our passion for modding the Grand Theft Auto series.”

Nkjellman didn’t specify what exactly pissed Rockstar off this time, but given their long history of hating mods, it’s not hard to figure out. Back in 2017, they pulled the plug on the Liberty City in GTA V mod, citing their so-called policy of “generally not taking legal action against single-player, non-commercial projects that respect IP rights.”

That is, unless you dare to use their own assets. And just like GTA Underground before it, The Liberty City Preservation Project has now been crushed under Rockstar’s boot. In fact, Rockstar themselves had previously shut down another modding effort to bring the world of Liberty City to the comfort of Grand Theft Auto V.

For years, rumors and teases suggested that Rockstar would finally bring Red Dead Redemption to PC. After endless deception and frustration, the unthinkable happened out of nowhere. Why does this matter? Because speculation about an official Grand Theft Auto IV remaster or re-release has been circulating since 2022.

With Rockstar set to release their next major title this year, the timeline suggests that such a project could materialize within the next few years. This would explain why Rockstar and Take-Two aggressively shut down the Liberty City Preservation Project, it posed a direct threat to their profits and could divert consumer interest, much like how the GTA Underground mod did with the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy.

That trilogy, infamously riddled with bugs and missing features at launch, led many to believe that Take-Two dismantled superior fan-made projects just to push their own subpar official release.

As for the modding team’s next move, that remains uncertain. Understandably, fans are outraged that Rockstar seemingly played a role in shutting down the project. Most likely, the studio demanded its removal before resorting to legal action. However, as is always the case with the internet, once something is uploaded, it’s never truly gone.

Unsurprisingly, users have already archived and reuploaded the Liberty City Preservation Project mod.

For example, an archived link to worldtravel.dev, the developers’ website, provides access to the necessary files, two versions for single-player (one featuring higher-quality textures) and another designed for Grand Theft Auto V’s FiveM multiplayer framework.

Alternatively, a Pixeldrain link is available, along with a magnet link for those who prefer torrenting.

While the mod’s developers may have officially ceased development and removed download links, nothing on the internet ever truly disappears. If anything, this serves as a lesson for those creating large-scale game modifications, fan projects, or remakes, especially for Rockstar and Nintendo titles.

Keeping a low profile and avoiding publicity until completion is a winning strategy. Ironically, the Liberty City Preservation Project has lived up to its name, as it has already been preserved and redistributed by the community despite its continued development being absolved.