The recently released ambitious mod Liberty City Preservation Project, which transfers the city of Liberty City from GTA IV to GTA V, impressed fans so much that it attracted the attention of Rockstar Games.
Image source: Steam (Reathstalker)
Let us remind you that Liberty City Preservation Project was released at the end of 2024 and offered to explore the GTA IV map. Pedestrians, traffic, weather, redesigned lighting, textures – the modification had everything players dreamed of.
The release of Liberty City Preservation Project was the result of many years of work by a team of modders from World Travel – work has been going on since 2018 and the result aroused significant interest from the fan community.
The enthusiastic reception was the beginning of the end. Lead developer nkjellman said: “Due to unexpected interest in our project and after discussions with Rockstar Games, we have decided to close the Liberty City Preservation Project.”
The modder emphasized that there was no talk of a conflict with Rockstar and described the incident as a “friendly closure” rather than a cessation of development as a result of a complaint for violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Image source: Steam
It is worth noting that in 2017, Rockstar already closed a similar mod, Liberty City in GTA V, from the OpenIV team, and even earlier stopped modders’ attempts to recreate the city of Vice City from GTA: Vice City in the game.
In 2022, it was reported that Rockstar had postponed the remasters of GTA IV and RDR due to the unsuccessful release of the GTA: The Trilogy collection, but a re-release of the cowboy action film still saw the light of day (in 2023 on consoles, and in 2024 on PC).