- Mike Dailly, one of the creators of GTA franchise, has claimed that Rockstar has issued copyright strikes on his YouTube videos about GTA graphics prototypes.
- The videos showed early renders of buildings and streets in a city as well as on old beta of Grand Theft Auto.
- Dailly worked on these prototypes for GTA back in early 1990s.
Mike Dailly, one of the founders of DMA Design, which is the studio that created the GTA franchise, has said that his Grand Theft Auto prototype videos were taken down due to copyright strikes by Rockstar. Dailly had worked on these prototypes at DMA Design back in 1990s. DMA Design was acquired by Rockstar in 1998 and renamed to Rockstar North. Dailly has taken to Twitter to express his frustration about the situation, given that original GTA devs are not allowed to showcase their work.
I see Rockstar are going full fuckers mode again, issuing copyright strikes to any GTA video they can find – including both my prototype videos. So now they’re trying to block all release of anyone’s work on a game – and any old development footage.
— Mike Dailly™ 🏴🇺🇦💙 (@mdf200) August 21, 2022
Dailly says Rockstar is “issuing copyright strikes to any GTA video they can find – including both my prototype videos. So now they’re trying to block all release of anyone’s work on a game – and any old development footage.” According to PCGamer, the two videos shared on Dailly’s YouTube channel showed renders of prototype graphics styles for GTA that he worked on in the early 1990s. The videos showed rotating isometric prototype and a top-down prototype of buildings and streets in a city. There was also footage of an old beta of Grand Theft Auto. When PCGamer reached out to Dailly, he said the “reason for the takedown was posting development footage without permission.”
Dailly has now removed all GTA related stuff from his social media handles. He said, “I’ve now removed all GTA dev stuff. Only direct examples of my own work are left – work that was never used in GTA, but “inspired” parts of its evolution.” Dailly further added, “Developers should always be allowed to show their work, especially works that are 28 years old!” Dailly wanted to share even more designs and documents from early GTA games including a design recommendations document, but isn’t doing so to protect himself from Rockstar’s legal team.
