With GTA 6 in development and GTA Online getting a massive update, it appears that Rockstar Games can do no wrong. But, this isn’t the case. In a recent tweet, Mike Dailly, one of the co-founders of DMA, claims that videos he has recently shared on social media have been taken down due to copyright strikes issued by Rockstar.
— Mike Dailly™ 🏴🇺🇦💙 (@mdf200) August 21, 2022 Dailly was one of the developers who worked on the prototype of the original Grand Theft Auto game. He is also credited for creating the hit game Lemmings while working for DMA Design.
The role of DMA Design in GTA
DMA Design was founded in 1987 by David Jones with classmates Mike Dailly, Russell Kay, and Steve Hammond. Dailly was the first employee hired by Jones to work at DMA. The company’s first big break was with the platform game Lemmings. The game was launched in 1991 for the Amiga personal computer and has sold an estimated 20 million copies since it was first released. Dailly created the prototype for a game called Race ’n’ Chase which would eventually be released as Grand Theft Auto after suffering development-related issues. The game was a commercial success and spawned one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. DMA was acquired by Rockstar in 1998 and was renamed Rockstar North. Dailly, along with the other founding members of DMA Design, left Rockstar North in 1999 shortly after the release of Grand Theft Auto 2. The original Grand Theft Auto is no longer available for sale on any platform.
The videos
According to Dailly, YouTube has taken down two GTA prototype videos that he uploaded. Apparently, Dailly doesn’t have permission to post development footage. One of the videos was entitled “GTA Top Down Prototype” and was created in 1994. The other video had the title “GTA 1 first rotating Isometric Prototype”. These two videos documented the work that Mike and the rest of the team at DMA Design did for GTA. Fans have commented that the videos were part of video game history and should have been preserved. As a consequence of the copyright strike, Dailly has removed all his early dev videos for GTA to protect himself from legal action. The Youtube channel where the videos were posted has around two thousand subscribers and the videos had a few hundred views.
You can thank Rocksuck. — Mike Dailly™ 🏴🇺🇦💙 (@mdf200) August 21, 2022
Controversy at Rockstar
Rockstar, and parent company Take-Two Interactive, have had their share of controversy in recent years regarding the use of copyright strikes against the modding community. In July 2021, issued copyright strikes to modders to remove a handful of mods for GTA. Others had no choice but to follow suit lest they risk similar action from Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two also issued a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice to Luke Ross, who is known for converting triple-A titles to VR. The popular modder insists that the company has been unfair in issuing a copyright strike as the mods he has made require players to own a copy of the game before they can use it.
