Bully Online modder isn't worried about Rockstar's lawyers, but all the hype for the GTA Online-like mod is "a clear sign that Bully 2 wouldn't be such a bad idea"

Bully
(Image credit: Rockstar)

To the delight of Bully 2 truthers around the world, a group of modders this week announced that they were keeping the cult classic open-world game alive in the form of Bully Online, which is exactly what you might imagine. It's Rockstar Games' Bully, online. But don't worry, at least one modder reckons the mod will have no run-ins with Rockstar's lawyers.

YouTuber and Bully Online lead SWEGTA recently jumped onto social media to assuage fears that the multiplayer mod might fall into the crosshairs of Rockstar Games' legal team since the GTA 6 developer is, at this point, pretty infamous for taking down mods or filing lawsuits against modders.

BULLY Online is FINALLY HERE!! - YouTube BULLY Online is FINALLY HERE!! - YouTube
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SWEGTA tweeted that Bully Online "requires a legal copy of the game to play," it doesn't "redistribute any game files," it "competes with no Rockstar Games/Take-Two property" and the project "only modifies the game executable and loads content we made." The lead modder also has his door open for Rockstar or its parent company, Take-Two, to reach out if there are any issues.

"What we truly care about is giving fans a fun way of re-experiencing the game through online play," the modder added. "This is why we're planning on making the mod free for the public to enjoy in 2026. We're just a small group of fans at the end of the day. This game means a lot to us (and many others as we've seen in the past 20 hours.)"

While SWEGTA's pretty confident that everything here is above board, fans online still had worries about how the modding team was paywalling early access and other perks behind Ko-Fi support, and whether that specific would raise the ire of Rockstar.

"The fact that so much interest and hype happened immediately after this fan-made project was announced is a clear sign that Bully 2 wouldn't be such a bad idea after all," the modder concluded.

Bully 2 has long been rumored, but Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser said the sequel never happened because of "bandwidth issues." With the studio now barely putting out one game per generation, the chances of an official Bully follow-up seem even less likely. At least we can dry our tears with the mod's mix of boarding school carnage and GTA Online-ish mini-games.

Former GTA boss and Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser's "own childhood" shaped "a lot" of Rockstar's cult classic open-world game Bully, former dev says, but it also "touched on all our childhood memories"

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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