A mod for Cyberpunk 2077 which enabled the game to be playable in VR has been removed following a legal takedown notice by CD Projekt.
Earlier this week, prolific VR modder Luke Ross said the Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3 studio had issued a DMCA notice against him, requesting the removal of his Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod.
However, it wasn’t actually the mod itself that the team took issue with. Rather, CD Projekt requested the removal after Ross put his mod behind a Patreon paywall, effectively selling its content. This is at odds with the Cyberpunk 2077 studio’s official ‘Fan Guidelines’ document, which states any content created with its games can not be used for commercial purposes.
“We’re happy for you to accept reasonable donations in connection with your fan content, but you’re not allowed to make people pay for it or have it behind any sort of paywall (e.g. don’t make content only available to paid subscribers),” this document reads.
Despite this, Ross has admitted he feels “bitter” about being forced to remove his Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod. “In the end it amounted to the same iron-clad corpo logic: every little action that a company takes is in the name of money, but everything that modders do must be absolutely for free,” Ross wrote in a very to the point Patreon post (thanks, roadtovr).
“As usual they stretch the concept of ‘derivative work’ until it’s paper-thin, as though a system that allows visualising 40+ games in fully immersive 3D VR was somehow built making use of their intellectual property,” Ross continued.
“And as usual they give absolutely zero f***s about how playing their game in VR made people happy.”
According to @SynthPotato, Ross generates $20k monthly from paid mods.
Back in 2022, our Ian took Ross’ Cyberpunk 2077 mod out for a spin. You can check out his adventures in the video below.
Despite the legal issues between Ross and CD Projekt, he is not giving up his VR modding endeavours. In his same post, he announced the release of a new VR mode for Larian’s acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3.
Elsewhere in CDPR-related news, earlier this month Cyberpunk 2 creative director Igor Sarzynski revealed why male V disappeared from the game’s marketing after Cyberpunk 2077 launched its 2.0 update.
