Rockstar Games Issues Copyright Strike on GTA Creator's Videos

One of the original programmers behind GTA took to Twitter to share that Rockstar targeted his video over a copyright claim.

Grand Theft Auto or GTA has a long storied history dating back to 1997, when it was first developed by DMA Design. A year later, a company that would soon own GTA was founded: Rockstar Games. Now, Rockstar Games is going after one GTA creator over his videos.

PC Gamer reported that Mike Dailly, who is one of the founding members of DMA Design, had shared footage of early GTA development online, but was immediately issued a copyright strike by Rockstar Games itself. Dailly took to Twitter to share his disappointment.

"I see Rockstar are going full f---ers mode again, issuing copyright strikes to any GTA video they can find - including both my prototype videos," Dailly shared on Sunday. "So now they're trying to block all release of anyone's work on a game - and any old development footage."

Rockstar Games Allegedly Forces GTA Creator to Take Down Old Development Videos

Dailly had taken to his YouTube channel to share two videos that featured renders from prototype graphics styles that he had developed in the early 1990s. The videos showed a rotating, isometric prototype and another top-down prototype of city streets and buildings, while another showed footage from an old beta copy of GTA.

Dailly said to the media outlet that the reason why his videos were taken down was because he posted development footage without permission. But Dailly was part of DMA Design, which was responsible for the creation of GTA. The company was acquired by Rockstar Games in 1998 and was later renamed Rockstar North.

After GTA 2 was released in 1999, both Dailly and DMA Design founder David Jones left the company. Other founders left around the same time.

GTA Creator Dismayed at Rockstar's Copyright Strike

Dailly shared that he has now taken down all of his "GTA dev stuff" and content from his online channels. Comicbook reported. He added that these glimpses into the early development of the wildly popular GTA game will "never see the light of day."

Dailly argued that developers like himself should be free to share their work especially those that had been in existence for 28 years now. The GTA creator's YouTube channel has less than 2,000 subscribers and he has a little under a couple thousand views on some of his videos, so it is unclear what motive Rockstar has to shut down the publishing of such GTA footage.

UK game developer Gary Stanton replied to Dailly on Twitter, sharing, "Horrifying to think you can put everything into a creative endeavor, and years later have some company that now owns the IP retroactively control how you can talk about it."

This is not the first time Rockstar Games has been linked to controversy. In late July, Bloomberg reported that the New York City based company has been hard at work to improve its work culture. Not only had it shelved a game called Cops 'n' Crooks in light of George Floyd's death in the hands of a police officer, it also removed transphobic jokes from GTA 5 and decreased the company's gender pay gap.

A former employee of Rockstar left the company but spoke under the condition of anonymity and said that the New York based organization is "a boys' club transformed into a real company." They are now attempting to create a "more progressive and compassionate workplace," employees said.