More GTA mods axed following OpenIV closure

PC Gamer has reported that more Grand Theft Auto mods are shutting down under the threat of legal action, following last week’s closure of the OpenIV editing mod.

As reported by the publication, two in-game cheat menu mods have now been officially closed, Forcehax and Menyoo, both of which operated on Grand Theft Auto V multiplayer game, GTA Online and charged users. Take-Two Interactive stressed in an earlier statement that the closures were due to use of modifications that affected the GTA Online experience and violated the terms and conditions for the game.

Both the Forcehax and Menyoo websites are now closed, only displaying almost identical messages. The below quote is from the Menyoo website, which also says that Take-Two has designated a charity for Menyoo to donate any proceeds from their modding activity.

After discussions with Take-Two Interactive, effective immediately we are ceasing all maintenance, development and distribution of the Menyoo cheat menu services. We will be donating our proceeds to a charity designated by Take-Two. We apologize for any and all problems Menyoo has caused to the Grand Theft Auto Online community.

The community is reacting to these closures, but possibly not in the way Take-Two Interactive would have hoped. A petition was launched at the end of last week on Change.Org calling for the OpenIV mod to be reinstated. The petition is just currently shy of 50,000 signatures.

There has also been a reaction on Steam with users leaving negative reviews of the game, criticising Take-Two and the modding policies it has implemented. At the time of writing over 39,000 reviews have been submitted by users over the last 30 days, with most of them being classed as ‘Overwhelmingly Negative’.

Rockstar Games has issued a statement regarding the closure of the OpenIV mod last week, however, Take-Two Interactive is yet to make a direct comment. The statement, issued to PC Gamer, reads:

"Take-Two’s actions were not specifically targeting single player mods. Unfortunately, OpenIV enables recent malicious mods that allow harassment of players and interfere with the GTA Online experience for everybody. We are working to figure out how we can continue to support the creative community without negatively impacting our players."