Just yesterday, the makers of Grand Theft Auto 5 mod FiveM, which offers a multiplayer mode outside GTA Online, had their Rockstar Social Club accounts suspended. As Kotaku reports, Rockstar today clarified why the creators were banned.

“The FiveM project is an unauthorized alternate multiplayer service that contains code designed to facilitate piracy,” the studio said in a statement.

Rockstar has the legal right to police GTA5 mods as it sees fit, but even so the explanation comes as a surprise. As previously reported, the makers of FiveM claim to have to gone to great lengths not seen in any other mods to protect against piracy. To use FiveM, users first had to register a copy of GTA5 through Rockstar’s Social Club.

The explanation is also sharp-tongued in that it implies FiveM’s makers intended not only to allow piracy, but to make it easier or promote it. This stands in stark contrast to FiveM user Ash Rogers’ earlier comments.

“Because of this piracy protection check, Rockstar [got] angry and started to ban people," he said. "Yes, people who confirmed they purchased the game!”

As it stands, and will likely remain, the fate of FiveM is a he-said, she-said affair. Butif it's a modder's word against the original creator's, the latter will always win out.

Notably, FiveM did not directly modify multiplayer code, as Rogers said, but did interact with Rockstar’s servers to a degree. That they were still banned should be a warning to prospective GTA5 modders.

Source [Kotaku]