Bully Online Shut Down at Take-Two Request?
yesterday at 20:33
10
0At the end of last year, when the announcement went live and early access opened for Bully Online (a fan-made multiplayer project based on Bully), many in the community were confident it would be shut down very soon. And that’s exactly what happened — just a month after launch, the project’s closure was announced.
This outcome was fairly easy to predict. Access was provided only through a paid subscription, which gave Take-Two an ironclad right to issue a DMCA takedown. However, the project lead, SWEGTA, claims that the company did not cite a specific reason for the ban. Instead, Take-Two allegedly attached a list of requirements that a mod must meet in order to avoid legal action from the rights holder. According to him, Bully Online could not have been saved in any scenario, even if there had been no paywall. That said, neither the list itself nor even a fragment of the letter has been made public.
The developers have also dismissed suggestions that the whole thing was a scam, stating that all funds received from players were fully refunded. The Fat Pigeon Development team, which was working on the project, decided to abandon it entirely and focus on original ideas going forward. However, this does not mean the absolute end of Bully Online — the open-source code along with all existing work has been released publicly, meaning anyone interested can continue development.
Interestingly, around the same time, the website of another similar modification — Bully Multiplayer — also went offline. This, however, affects only the English version while the Russian version continues to operate as usual. The project’s page on moddb.com is still available as well.
This outcome was fairly easy to predict. Access was provided only through a paid subscription, which gave Take-Two an ironclad right to issue a DMCA takedown. However, the project lead, SWEGTA, claims that the company did not cite a specific reason for the ban. Instead, Take-Two allegedly attached a list of requirements that a mod must meet in order to avoid legal action from the rights holder. According to him, Bully Online could not have been saved in any scenario, even if there had been no paywall. That said, neither the list itself nor even a fragment of the letter has been made public.
The developers have also dismissed suggestions that the whole thing was a scam, stating that all funds received from players were fully refunded. The Fat Pigeon Development team, which was working on the project, decided to abandon it entirely and focus on original ideas going forward. However, this does not mean the absolute end of Bully Online — the open-source code along with all existing work has been released publicly, meaning anyone interested can continue development.
Interestingly, around the same time, the website of another similar modification — Bully Multiplayer — also went offline. This, however, affects only the English version while the Russian version continues to operate as usual. The project’s page on moddb.com is still available as well.