Gamers who didn’t get a chance to experience the Liberty City Preservation Project mod in Grand Theft Auto 5 are in for a disappointment, as Rockstar has called time on the ambitious mod.
News in brief
- The mod was released a few weeks ago and received an enthusiastic reception.
- It brought Liberty City to GTA V, with a playable version of the GTA IV map.
- The lead modder announced the end of the mod on its Discord a few days ago.
Fans waiting for GTA VI were delighted at the arrival of the Liberty City Preservation Project mod for Grand Theft Auto V. Players could explore Liberty City, the setting for GTA IV, in a fully playable map in the game’s fifth installment, with pedestrians, traffic, new scenarios, and more.
World Travel’s mod, which the team started working on in 2018, launched earlier this month to an enthusiastic audience. Perhaps it was the mod’s popularity that drew Rockstar Games’ attention, but whatever the reason, the developer set out to end its short-lived run.
According to Insider Gaming, njkellman, World Travels’ modding lead, announced the end of the Liberty City Preservation Project on Discord, saying “Due to the unexpected attention that our project received and after speaking with Rockstar Games, we have decided to take down the Liberty City Preservation project.” The team continued that they appreciated the support for the project and looked forward to continuing to create mods for the GTA series — though it's unclear where they'll go from here.
There’s no word why Rockstar decided to take down the mod, but it’s not the first time the studio has challenged similar mods. In 2017, it opposed the “Liberty City in GTA 5” mod. The developer said it would not take legal action against “third-party projects involving Rockstar’s PC games that are single-player, non-commercial, and respect the intellectual property of third parties,” but that it wouldn’t allow “use or importation of other IP,” including its own.
That could be where the Liberty City Preservation Project hit a wall. Or could it be something else? Back in 2022, we heard rumors of an official GTA IV remaster. Though that supposedly was squashed, could the reason Rockstar demanded the removal of this most recent mod be that a remaster is on the cards? We’ll need to wait and see — either way, 2025 will be a big year for Rockstar, with the long-awaited arrival of GTA VI.
