Last month, a group of fans known collectively as “World Project” released the Liberty City Preservation Project, an ambitious mod that put Grand Theft Auto IV’s take on New York City into GTA 5. The project not only updated the visuals of the original city, it added thousands of new animations and dynamic events to make the world feel alive on a scale few mods strive to.
Well, just a few weeks after the surprisingly detailed mod blew everyone away with its attention to detail and seamless integration into GTA 5’s base game, publisher Rockstar Games has seemingly asked World Project to scrub the project from the internet. It’s a sad day for the team that put six years of work into the project, and an even sadder day for fans who wanted to relive fond memories of Grand Theft Auto’s strongest entry.
“Due to the unexpected attention that our project received and after speaking with Rockstar Games, we have decided to take down the Liberty City Preservation Project,” World Project’s lead developer Nkjellman wrote on the mod’s Discord. “We appreciate all the support the project has received, and we look forward to continuing to pursue our passion for modding the Grand Theft Auto series.”
The statement is rather brief. But it’s an unsurprising if not abrupt end to such an exciting release. These stories have become commonplace since GTA 5’s release on PC. Most mods that take considerable liberties with the original game’s source code or import copyrighted material into the game have been removed from the internet at the behest of Take-Two. While it's understandable why the publisher would be so litigious about its most lucrative and valuable property, it doesn’t make it any less of a bummer when it happens.
At the time of its release, the Preservation Project team updated Grand Theft Auto IV’s vehicles, textures, and interiors. It created over 4,500 different scenarios including cops ticketing parked cars and even groups of cyclists biking through city parks, simulated traffic, and even a functioning subway system. The team had further plans to restore the old game’s physics, improve the city’s natural lighting, and more down the line. All of that work is now lost to time.
The saddest part of the mod’s removal is that the Liberty City Preservation Project was the closest thing to a Grand Theft Auto IV remake there is. It’s been reported that after the negative reception to the troubled Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition in 2021, plans for definitive editions of Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto IV were shelved. If Rockstar truly has no plans to bring back the fan-favorite game, then letting players explore a fan-made version of the map free of missions seems like a harmless made-good.
While GTA 5 is a fantastic game in its own right, its 2008 predecessor has a certain charm all to its own. Most of Grand Theft Auto IV’s ambition, from its advanced physics system, dense approach to open-world design, and filmic, borderline miserable approach to storytelling, remains intriguing in a way no other Rockstar Game is. While not all of it has aged well, it perfectly embodies the direction the games industry was headed 15 years ago. And best of all, it’s still pretty fun to play.
For those hoping to experience a new side of the Grand Theft Auto universe, 2025 may well be the year you’ve been waiting for. As of now, Take-Two plans to release the long-awaited sequel, Grand Theft Auto VI, sometime this fall.
