A "free alternative massively multiplayer modification" for Grand Theft Auto titles called GTA:Multiplayer has allegedly been asked to be shut down by Take Two Interactive.

A post on the project's website details the reasoning for the shutdown from the international team of developers:

Take2 Interactive Inc. have contacted us and they asked us to stop GTA:Multiplayer, because from Take2’s point of view GTA:MP is a rival of their business. Grand Theft Auto and all its content is produced by Rockstar Games Inc. and published and owned by Take2 Interactive Inc. We, as developers, respect other developer’s intellectual property and their legitimate interests. Rockstar’s developers have invested so much time to create this beautiful game. We have repeatedly stated our position: We are not going to cross this line, we won’t damage them.

Rockstar and Take Two have had issues with mods before in their Grand Theft Auto series. The launch of Grand Theft Auto V was fraught with reports of players being banned for using mods which resulted in Rockstar clarifying their stance on the matter. In short, Rockstar stated that they only wanted to keep people from modding to gain an unfair advantage in GTA: Online. The developers of GTA:Multiplayer echoed the concerns of possible bans further on in their post:

We clearly see that this may not only result in problems for us, the mod creators, it even may result in a Social Club ban for you, and this is something we do not want to be responsible for. We always respected the copyright of others, and we will not stop doing so.

A post on the /r/GTAMP subreddit mirrors the missing most recent devblog which indicated the GTA:Multiplayer team had hoped to publicly release their project before the end of 2015.

What do you think of the developer's reasoning for shutting down? Do you think it's right that Take Two allegedly had asked the GTA:Multiplayer team to shut down their project? Let us know in the comments below!