An extensive modding project aiming to port Red Dead Redemption"s map over to Grand Theft Auto V was met with a large amount of fanfare following its reveal last month, with many players excited to finally roam the game"s vast, dusty lands on PC. However, an announcement made two days ago confirmed that the project has been shut down following an intervention by the games" publisher, Take-Two Interactive.
The modding team in charge of the project, known as ".White", released the mod"s first teaser trailer on Friday, but it was quickly taken down from YouTube. Soon after, the team"s lead programmer Mr. Leisurewear issued a statement on GTAForums:
"I know this is hard pill to swallow, but as you may have noticed we did get contacted , and we sadly have to say we are stopping this project.
So thanks guys, we were all so happy to see this, but it isn"t going to happen, sorry"
Following the announcement, some users were quick to assume the team"s plan was to port the game in its entirety to PC, and that was the reason for the takedown. However, Mr. Leisurewear clarified that the mod was "never going to be a "pc port" it was just gonna be the map" and also "there was never any intention or mention to either port a storymode over from RDR to V".
In addition, the mod was supposedly under development for three years before its public reveal. Although some users in the forum came forward with requests, Mr. Leisurewear confirmed that neither the mod"s files, nor its development toolkit will be made available due to legal concerns. There is a possibility that the team could alter the map and release it under a different title, separating itself from the Red Dead IP, but time will tell if this will be the case.
Either way, the mod authors have chosen a rather unfortunate time to unveil their project, as Rockstar Games is preparing to launch Red Dead Redemption 2 later this year on consoles.
It seems PC players will just have to hope that the developer ends up releasing the original, or at least its upcoming sequel for their platform at some point.