GTA 3 and Vice City's reverse-engineered source code has been restored after DMCA Counter Notice

Re3 and reVC were fan-made GTA 3 and GTA Vice City mods released earlier this year that were taken down by Take Two interactive for apparent copyright violations. The mod was considered a stepping stone for the modding community of GTA, as having access to the source code of a title enables unheard of customization and changes that can create a new gameplay experience for all. Fighting back against the removal, a developer has claimed a counter notice and restored the mods.

GTA 3 and Vice City source code returns to GitHub after counter DMCA notice

---

Following the removal of the GTA 3 and Vice City mods, a New Zealand-based developer named Theo who forked the code, came to the conclusion that Take-Two might have no claim to the project after examining the situation and issued a DMCA counter-notice that ultimately led to the code being restored.

"It would appear that the code in the re3 repo is reverse engineered, not a straight decompilation. I believe Take-Two’s claim to be wholly incorrect if this is the case, since the code may be functionally identical, but not exactly identical, they hold no claim to the code."

Take-Two Interactive has been notorious for handing out DMCA notices, with the incident involving GTA modding utility OpenIV. Take Two had initially sent a cease-and-desist notice to the developers of the utility threatening legal consequences if they did not comply.

Take-Two then backpedaled from their position as backlash from the GTA community grew out of control and allowed the developers to reinstate the utility which forms the backbone of any modding for modern GTA titles.

The restoration of the GTA 3 and GTA Vice City reverse engineered mods is a huge win for the modding community. It remains to be seen if Take-Two Interactive will allow the mod to stay up or take further action.