Mike Dailly, formerly a developer at DMA Design, wanted to share videos of the development of the first GTA. But without counting on Rockstar, who cried out about copyright infringement and had the videos removed from YouTube. A shame for the one who helped create the successful saga.
Before becoming the global success we know today, GTA was first produced by a small studio called DMA Design. It was not until 1998 that the studio was bought out and became Rockstar North. Anyway, it is indeed DMA Design which is at the origin of one of the most cult sagas in the world, which reaches astronomical sales figures.
Mike Dailly is the co-founder of this studio, which he then left shortly before the release of GTA 2. In memory of the good old days, the developer thus wished to share some images of the development processor of the first opus on YouTube channel . But Rockstar was obviously not in agreement with the project. On his Twitter account, Mike Dailly indeed accuses the video game giant of having had his videos deleted for copyright infringement.
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Rockstar doesn’t appreciate a former developer sharing their work
A very ironic situation, knowing that Mike Dailly is simply one of the creators of the cult saga. “They are now trying to block any publication of anyone’s work on a game — and any old development footage”, underlines the developer bitterly. Among the videos concerned, there were in particular images of the prototypes and betas of GTA dating from the beginning of the 90s.
While Rockstar is already surfing on several controversies, in an era where the preservation of video games is becoming more and more part of the debates, this decision is of course not very well received by players. “Developers should always be allowed to show their work, especially those who are 28 years old!“, believes also Mike Dailly, who still preferred to delete all content related to the development of GTA.
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
