Rockstar hits the creator of ‘GTA’ with a copyright strike

Rockstar has issued copyright strikes to Mike Dailly, the creator of Grand Theft Auto (GTA), over YouTube videos of a prototype for the first game in the series.

Taking to Twitter yesterday (August 21), Dailly accused Rockstar of “issuing copyright strikes to any GTA video they can find,” including his own prototype videos. “So now they’re trying to block all release of anyone’s work on a game – and any old development footage,” added Dailly.

In a separate post, Dailly confirmed that he has “now removed all GTA dev stuff” from his YouTube channel. “Only direct examples of my own work are left – work that was never used in GTA, but ‘inspired’ parts of its evolution,” said Dailly. “You can thank Rocksuck.”

I see Rockstar are going full fuckers mode again, issuing copyright strikes to any GTA video they can find – including both my prototype videos. So now they’re trying to block all release of anyone’s work on a game – and any old development footage.

— Mike Dailly™ ???????????????????????????????????????? (@mdf200) August 21, 2022

The videos that were taken down include a 1994 prototype of the first GTA, which was released in 1997, and a prototype for the game’s rotating isometric feature.

In the past, Rockstar – and publisher Take-Two – have used copyright strikes to remove a slew of mods for Grand Theft Auto. In July of this year, Take-Two issued a Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown to Luke Ross, a modder who made Grand Theft Auto and other Rockstar games work in VR.

In 2021, several other popular Grand Theft Auto mods were taken down after Take-Two allegedly changed an agreement on what mods were allowed.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has previously stated that the company is “pretty flexible” in issuing DMCA takedowns. However, Zelnick specified that “if the economy is threatened, or if there’s bad behaviour, and we know how to define that, then we would issue a takedown notice.”

In other gaming news, the latest trailer for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has revealed a rideable Pokémon and a couple of new features for battling.