GTA 6 map recreated in GTA 5 gets hit by a Take-Two copyright strike
A modder rebuilt GTA 6’s map inside GTA 5 from trailer shots and leaks, and Take-Two answered with a copyright strike on the showcase video. What happened and why.
This article is from March 24, 2025. Some details may have changed since then.
Add GTA House as a preferred news sourceSee more of our GTA, Red Dead and Rockstar Games news on Google.Add on Google (opens in a new tab)GTA 6 was still more than a year away, and someone was already "playing" it. In late March 2025, modder Dark Space released a free GTA 5 mod that recreated Leonida, GTA 6's state, so players could get a feel for its size and atmosphere. It didn't last: Take-Two filed a copyright claim against the video showing it off, and the modder ended up pulling the download too.
What the mod was
Known as Project Vice, the mod wasn't based on any official map or internal Rockstar data. It was pieced together from two sources: shots from GTA 6's first trailer, released in December 2023, and the work of the GTA 6 Mapping Project, a community that has spent years reconstructing the map from trailers, leaks and educated guesses. The walkthrough video went viral within days, which is exactly what put it on the publisher's radar.
How Take-Two responded
Take-Two didn't go after the mod directly. It targeted the YouTube video, which received a copyright strike, the channel's first. Dark Space took it down and, without being asked, removed the download link as well, then posted an apology video joking that the map might have been "a little too accurate."
The most striking part was the modder's own take, given to IGN:
"I think my map could have ruined the surprise of their map, which I get. If you spent years building out this amazing game world just to have some YouTuber spoil the experience of the map's shape, size, and vibe... I'd want it removed too."
Why it happened when it did
Timing explains a lot. In March 2025, Rockstar had been silent since the first trailer, fans were expecting the second one any day, and GTA 6 was still slated for that fall. Anything that could spoil the map, even a rough reconstruction, was exactly what the company wanted to avoid, and Take-Two had already shown zero tolerance for anything built on leaked GTA 6 material.
What it means for modders
This case drew a line that would come up again and again: anything touching GTA 6 before launch is off-limits, even a mod built from imagination and public screenshots. Earlier that year, Take-Two had also shut down the Liberty City Preservation Project, which brought GTA IV's city into GTA V. The message is consistent: mods that look too much like a Rockstar product, current or upcoming, are living on borrowed time.
Our take
The fact that the modder understood the takedown says a lot. There was no big outcry or support campaign, because the idea was hard to defend: a map of a game that didn't exist yet, partly built from leaks. Fans will have to wait for launch to explore Leonida for real.
