Original GTA creator claims Rockstar Games issued him copyright strikes

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

Dailly took to Twitter to accuse Rockstar of “issuing copyright strikes to any GTA video they can find,” including his own prototype videos.

In a separate post, Dailly confirmed that he has removed GTA dev content from his YouTube channel and that examples of his own work that weren’t related to GTA but “inspired its evolution” were left.

Dailly is a Scottish video game designer, best known for having designed the game Lemmings and the original prototype of GTA. He is also one of the four founders of DMA Design, now more commonly known as Rockstar North which created the illustrious game series.

Considering Dailly is the original developer of the game, it would make sense for him to have a sense of value in sharing his knowledge with other game developers by releasing his own works to the public.

The videos in question showed off one of his original builds of GTA in 1994 and a prototype for the game’s rotating isometric feature.

This would not be the first time, however, that Rockstar has issued a copyright strike on anyone. In July this year, along with their publisher Take-Two Interactive, they sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown to Virtual Reality (VR) modder Luke Ross for modifying GTA and other Rockstar Games work in VR. He is known for converting triple-A games to work in VR by using mods.

In 2021, other popular GTA mods were also taken down after Take-Two apparently altered a contract on what mods were permitted.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has previously said that the company is “very flexible” when it comes to issuing DMCA takedowns and added that they would “issue a takedown notice if the economy is jeopardized, or if there is bad behavior.”

 

Other POP! stories you might like:

‘The Simpsons: Hit & Run’ has a fan-made remake, and it’s open world

Remembering video games that made our childhood awesome

Read more...