Red Dead Redemption V, a mod that promised to put Red Dead Redemption’s map inside GTA 5, has been cancelled after three years of development.

The plug was pulled on the fan-made mod after the creators were contacted by a third party, following the official announcement in March.

It’s not clear who contacted the modders, but one of the group, Mr. Leisurewear, took to the GTA Forums to explain the cancellation.

Related: Red Dead Redemption 2

He wrote (via): “I know this is hard pill to swallow, but as you may have noticed we did get contacted, and we sadly have to say we are stopping this project.

“So thanks guys, we were all so happy to see this, but it isn’t going to happen, sorry.”

It seems the modders were contacted, likely by either developers of the Red Dead series, Rockstar, or rights-holders Take-Two Interactive, after releasing a trailer for the mod last week.

Based on the Xbox 360 version of the original Red Dead Redemption game, Red Dead Redemption V would have put the map from the title into the PC version of GTA 5.

The mod would have been single-player only, with the team behind it saying in March: “The framework is all there, we are constantly fine tuning the methods we use to convert the game.”

It would make sense for either Rockstar or Take Two to step in at this point, as this year will see the release of the highly-anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2.

Naturally, fans weren’t amused by the move, with forum users asking the modders to keep the files, and others expressing unmitigated outrage at the cancellation.

But, if either company did step in to put an end to the project, it would likely be to prevent any attention being taken away from the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 game.

Neither company has confirmed whether they did indeed contact the modders, so at this point it’s all a bit unclear.

Let us know what you think happened in the comments.