Rockstar Games has outlined its policy for modding ahead of Grand Theft Auto 6’s release, and it may crush the dreams of some would-be entrepreneurs.
Rockstar Games has a somewhat contentious history with the modding community, but the developer has lightened up in recent years following the absurd success of GTA 5’s RP community. Rockstar even acquired the developer of the FiveM modding platform and partnered with the biggest RP server, nopixel, to develop a new iteration. Now, it seems like Rockstar is trying to make it clear where it stands with modding ahead of GTA 6’s release, so there’s less room for controversy when modding inevitably begins.
The rules are clearly outlined on Rockstar’s website and include some obvious examples, such as no use of others’ IP, pornography, bullying, or endorsements of violent extremism. Additionally, modders can not make Rockstar’s games available on platforms they’ve never been released on, and they can’t add characters, maps, or assets from other games to different titles, either.
There is one section of the policy that seems to specifically address some things that influencers have been planning for some time: Rockstar explicitly forbids unauthorized commercialization of mods in its games.
For instance, influencers like Adin Ross have spent the last couple of years making claims that he’d create a GTA 6 server where players could essentially live inside of it and earn real money. Ross even went as far as saying players could quit their jobs in real life and live off the money made in his GTA 6 server. Unless Rockstar signs off on it, though, that won’t be possible. Rockstar’s policy notes that players can not exchange real money in mods via crypto or traditional currencies. Players also can’t use real money for gambling within modded content, and mod owners can not promote any kind of third-party sponsored content.
Ultimately, it sounds like the servers that Ross and other influencers have been imagining will not be possible. As folks have probably anticipated, GTA 6 will not be a Second Life experience to make real money. It’s still very much a video game, and one over which Rockstar plans to have close supervision. There’s a lot of room for the game to get corrupted if influencers could radically commercialize their servers, so it’s probably best that Rockstar is policing this.
We won’t see any mods for GTA 6 for a while, as the game isn’t releasing on PC on November 19. However, there have been a variety of teases from Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive, that GTA 6 will eventually make its way to PC. How long will that take? We have no idea. It seems hard to imagine it being any later than a year, given the increased popularity of PC gaming since Rockstar’s last major release and the high demand for this game, though.
Cade Onder
Freelance Writer
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.