Rockstar: you won't be banned for GTA 5 single-player mods

Here's what we've all been waiting for. In a new Q&A on the Rockstar Newswire, the GTA 5 developer confirms that players won't be banned for using single-player mods.

Here's the full statement:

"We have always appreciated the creative efforts of the PC modding community and we still fondly remember the awesome zombie invasion mod and original GTA map mod for GTAIV PC among many other classics. To be clear, the modding policy in our license has not changed and is the same as for GTAIV. Recent updates to GTAV PC had an unintended effect of making unplayable certain single player modifications. This was not intentional, no one has been banned for using single player modifications, and you should not worry about being banned or being relegated to the cheater pool just for using single player PC mods. Our primary focus is on protecting GTA Online against modifications that could give players an unfair advantage, disrupt gameplay, or cause griefing. It also bears mentioning that because game mods are by definition unauthorized, they may be broken by technical updates, cause instability, or affect your game in other unforeseen ways."

Essentially, Rockstar is saying they can't promise that mods won't sometimes be broken by updates, but reassure that—as long as it doesn't cross into GTA Online—players are safe to mod their game.

As for GTA Online, Rockstar provides additional reassurance to players worrying about the increased prevalence of hackers:

"Unfortunately even a tiny minority of people cheating can have a negative impact on a larger population. In addition, solving this problem requires a different approach on each platform. We have been regularly rolling out fixes for specific exploits and tools to enable us to combat cheating with each patch and we are going to continue to do so. While it’s unrealistic to say we can solve the problem of cheating forever and for everyone, we believe we are making significant progress on this issue and we will continue to work aggressively to stop these griefers in their tracks as best we can."

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.