Indie development team ArcadiaSquad wowed Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas fans last week with a trailer for a remastered version of the PS2 classic. However, the original upload of the video is nowhere to be found on the group’s YouTube channel after a takedown notice from Take-Two Interactive.
While the trailer was never meant to tease a full recreation of the game for public release, it appears that the combination of recreating areas from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in the Unreal Engine and the group’s soliciting of donations from Patreon rubbed Take-Two Interactive the wrong way. As of writing, the ArcadiaSquad YouTube channel is empty and the Patreon is “under review.”
Even with a vibrant modding community for most of the Grand Theft Auto series, Rockstar and Take-Two are notoriously protective of the franchise, bringing several mod developers to court for violating the publishers’ modding policies. The project isn’t the first ambitious modern remake to get taken down by Rockstar; an effort to port the original Red Dead Redemption into GTA 5 was canceled in 2017 after a C&D from the publisher.
Fans of the series have grown restless after playing Grand Theft Auto 5 across two console generations, and that likely isn’t going to change. Rockstar seems to be going full speed ahead with an updated GTA 5 for the PS5 and Xbox Series X in place of a new entry in the series or a remake of a classic like San Andreas or Vice City.
While the publisher’s decision to take the trailer down is understandable for copyright reasons, it is somewhat of a blow for fans who are clamoring for truly new content right alongside hungry Red Dead Online players.
It remains to be seen if GTA fans will resort to cosplaying as clowns in-game to protest the series’ current state of affairs, but for those still wanting to catch a glimpse of ArcadiaSquad’s take on San Andreas, the video embedded above from MrBossFTW includes the trailer at the 2:22 mark.
Source: Eurogamer
