Rockstar clarifies stance on GTA V mods; Doesn’t mean much

Last week, Rockstar and their parent company. Take Two, upset the PC modding community by sending a Cease and Desist letter to the main modding tool for Grand Theft Auto 5. Rockstar Games defended Take-Two's actions, saying that OpenIV was interfering with the GTA Online experience. OpenIV replied back to that statement saying that it was not possible for the mod to do so, but it looks like Rockstar is still looking to define the modding experience.

Rockstar has updated their single-player mods policy, saying that they will allow "reasonable" mods and will "generally" not take legal action against mods that are for single-player, however, if the mod crosses into online territory there will probably be repercussions.

That being said, Rockstar made it clear they do not "endorse" or authorize third-party projects (ie mods).

Question: Are PC Single-Player Mods Allowed?

Answer: Rockstar Games believes in reasonable fan creativity, and, in particular, wants creators to showcase their passion for our games. After discussions with Take-Two, Take-Two has agreed that it generally will not take legal action against third-party projects involving Rockstar’s PC games that are single-player, non-commercial, and respect the intellectual property (IP) rights of third parties. This does not apply to (i) multiplayer or online services; (ii) tools, files, libraries, or functions that could be used to impact multiplayer or online services, or (iii) use or importation of other IP (including other Rockstar IP) in the project. This is not a license, and it does not constitute endorsement, approval, or authorization of any third-party project. Take-Two reserves the right to object to any third-party project, or to revise, revoke and/or withdraw this statement at any time in their own discretion. This statement does not constitute a waiver of any rights that Take-Two may have with respect to third-party projects.

There you have it, single-player mods fall into a gray zone. They aren't allowed but won't get chased down by the law (most of the time). However, if you let that mod get affect GTA Online gameplay… you're probably going to get in trouble.

It should be noted that most mods find themselves in folders which share some single-player and online data, which means that even a mod that is used purely for single-player could allow others to affect online gameplay. With this in mind, OpenIV will likely not be coming back and if they do, it will be treading on eggshells. Currently, Rockstar claims to be in talks with OpenIV creators to work around this.

This is not the first time that Rockstar has gone through this with GTA 5. In 2015, Rockstar banned a number modders from playing the game for simply having mods installed in their game – those banned were reporting to be predominantly playing in single-player. At the time, Rockstar clarified that they didn't mind single-player mods, but mind GTA Online mods.

TL;DR: Rockstar reserves the right to take down any mod, for any reason, at any time. Have two installs of the game on your PC and use one version for mods and another for Online play if you want to be safe.