GTA 5 Not Banning Players for Using Single-Player Mods

After largely staying silent on the matter, Rockstar has finally issued a statement regarding the use of mods in Grand Theft Auto V on PC, with the company claiming it isn't banning players for the use of single-player mods.

"We have always appreciated the creative efforts of the PC modding community and we still fondly remember the awesome zombie invasion mod and original GTA map mod for GTA IV PC among many other classics," Rockstar said in a post on its website today. "To be clear, the modding policy in our license has not changed and is the same as for GTA IV."

A new patch was released for GTA V last week that broke support for Script Hook V, a tool used for running mods. Despite not being mentioned in the patch notes, some believed this was a deliberate attempt to curb the use of mods, which are not officially supported.

However, Rockstar chalks this up to "an unintended side effect" and claims it hasn't banned anyone for using single-player mods.

"Recent updates to GTA V PC had an unintended effect of making unplayable certain single-player modifications," the company said. "This was not intentional, no one has been banned for using single-player modifications, and you should not worry about being banned or being relegated to the cheater pool just for using single-player PC mods.

"Our primary focus is on protecting GTA Online against modifications that could give players an unfair advantage, disrupt gameplay, or cause griefing. It also bears mentioning that because game mods are by definition unauthorized, they may be broken by technical updates, cause instability, or affect your game in other unforeseen ways."

While some mods are used to cheat online--something Rockstar says it continues to fight--most of them are harmless.

Rockstar also noted it's taking steps to prevent videos from being published online that help players to game the system to earn extra money, duplicate cars, and so on. The company has updated its policy on publishing videos of its games online to note that "anyone who posts videos that encourage and promote ways to cheat your way towards gaining illegitimate RP or counterfeit in-game money or duplicating in-game items without having earned them may have their videos flagged for takedown with YouTube."