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The world of Grand Theft Auto Online has been made considerably cleaner as publisher Take-Two continues its crusade to clamp down on modding tools.
Hot on the heels of its cease and desist to the makers of the popular Open IV modding tool, the publisher has now forced the takedown of online cheating software Force Hax. The mod’s website currently reads:
After discussions with Take-Two Interactive, effective immediately we are ceasing all maintenance, development and distribution of the Force Hax cheat menu services. We will be donating our proceeds to charity and we apologize for any and all problems Force Hax services have caused to the Grand Theft Auto Online community.”
Kotaku reports that Take-Two hasn’t stopped there, either. Two more mods – Lexicon and Menyoo – have both confirmed vie their websites that they have shut down, and are also donating money to charity.
However, while the action against Force Hax, Lexion and Menyoo has been on the whole widely received, the outcry about Open IV gathers pace. A petition campaigning to save Open IV is now approaching 50,000 signatures.
The closing of OpenIV leaves 10,000s of people without access to be able to mod their games, and leaves 10,000s of people without the ability to continue their hobbies,” it reads. All modding used by OpenIV is for singleplayer use only to make the game more enjoyable, the software OpenIV was never used to mod multiplayer or Grand Theft Auto Online so it does not harm anyone.”
Players are also lashing out via the medium of Steam reviews, whose recent review rating has now switched to ‘overwhelmingly negative’.
Fans have even taken to the medium of machinima to express their frustratrion:
