Earlier this week, a Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod maker, Luke Ross, was hit with a DMCA strike by CD Projekt over monetization, and today it has happened again.
In case you missed it, on Tuesday, a popular VR mod maker, LukeRoss, was hit with a DMCA strike from CD Projekt. The DMCA strike was issued because Luke Ross used the Cyberpunk 2077 IP with the creator’s express permission, particularly when it came to his VR mod that inserted players behind the lens of the protagonist in-game. Luke Ross refused to make his VR mod for Cyberpunk 2077 free, so CD Projekt Red issued a strike against his marketplace. Luke Ross then removed only the Cyberpunk 2077 mods from his Patreon and paid services, stating that he believed CD Projekt was in the wrong.
For context, Luke Ross is the creator of R.E.A.L. VR mods for games, and these mods have made serious money since launch. According to a 2022 report by The Verge, the mod (and Luke Ross) made (at the time) $20,000 a month. This figure is allegedly based solely on modding existing PC games to run on VR headsets, without any original creation being developed under the hood aside from the mods themselves. The story continues as another company, 505 Games, has hit Luke Ross with a DMCA strike, he claims on his Patreon (posted to Reddit).
The statement from Luke Ross reads, “Another publisher just sent a DMCA takedown notice to Patreon: namely 505 Games, for my VR conversion of Ghostrunner. No mention of any terms of service violation this time,” claiming Patreon took down his VR mod for the claim, without mentioning which terms were violated. He then notes that the terms of Patreon state accounts with repeated claimed violations will be terminated regardless of whether they’ve actually infringed on copyright or not, so he’s taken the nuclear option.
Luke Ross has effectively removed access to all of his R.E.A.L. VR mods as of the second DMCA strike by 505 to protect his Patreon account. He said, “I’m making unavailable all versions of the mods and also all the posts related to the wonderful work we have done here together for years, so that there will be no ground for further claims. And since I cannot stop people from subscribing without closing down the account altogether, I’m making it clear on the About and Welcome pages that new subscriptions will have the only effect of supporting me and that no access to the 40+ conversions can or will be provided at this time.”
In a statement to IGN this week, Luke Ross said he wouldn’t rule out making the mod free to comply with CD Projekt’s demands, but the work is extensive and would take a lot of time. He also states, “The people who have voluntarily given their money to me in order to support my development efforts for the framework might not be happy about seeing the mod being given away all of a sudden to everyone just because I’ve been bullied into it.”
In his takedown statement, Luke Ross closed with “Hopefully we’ll find a way together, in the next few weeks. But if we can’t, we’ll always have the memories of the wonderful times we spent in those beautiful virtual worlds.” Those who already have access to his released VR mods (including the Cyberpunk 2077 one) will continue to have access, and Luke Ross hasn’t confirmed whether he will put his mods back up, but they will stay down until “the legal situation clears out.”
