Veteran GTA dev says Rockstar should make a GTA 4 remaster, but "it would be better" if it was a "quality remaster" this time

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If Rockstar did it we wouldn't need to take matters into our own hands

GTA 4
(Image credit: Rockstar)

A fan-made GTA Vice City mod that ports the game to GTA 4 had its YouTube page taken down by Take-Two, and while a former Rockstar dev says it's just doing what companies do, it would be better if it made quality remakes itself.

Last week, the YouTube channel that was sharing videos about Vice City: Nextgen Edition was taken down by Take-Two and the modders released the mod as a free standalone download in retaliation. They're based in Russia, so it seems like it will be difficult for Rockstar to do anything about the mod itself.

This comes shortly after the company also shut down a mod that aimed to port GTA 4 into GTA 5, named The Liberty City preservation project. Ex-Rockstar developer Obbe Vermeij tweets: "Take2/R* are a commercial company. They will take down mods that interfere with their business interests [...] The Liberty City preservation project  would interfere with a possible GTA 4 remaster. (No idea whether they’re working on that. I think they should)."

I agree. I've been wanting to return to GTA 4 for some time now, but the thought of having to reconnect my PS3 and its tiny controllers or get a terrible PC port annoys me. I also don't know if I trust Rockstar to make a decent remake. Just look at how bad the Definitive Edition was for GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas. 

One person replies: "What irritates me and I believe irritates other players is that this fan mod is literally what we wanted in the GTA trilogy, man, it's impressive, it's bizarre to think that no one at Rockstar thought of this, they preferred to release a simple remaster without updating."

Vermeij agrees, adding, "It would be better if R* did quality remasters of their classic games." It's a shame Rockstar takes this approach, because companies like Bethesda seem more than happy to let people get on with modding games, even if some developers find the practice bittersweet.

In the meantime, check out our ranking of the best GTA games. My favorite will always be San Andreas.

Issy van der Velde
Issy van der Velde
Contributor

I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.