A month after launch, Bully Online mod "is shutting down forever" and being scrubbed from existence as dev assures "this was not something we wanted"

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A month after launch, Bully Online mod "is shutting down forever" and being scrubbed from existence as dev assures "this was not something we wanted" News By Jordan Gerblick published 15 January 2026

Bully Online's project lead previously dismissed concerns about legal trouble from Rockstar and Take-Two, but if this is what it looks like, he may have spoken too soon

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Bully Online project lead Swegta has announced that the ambitious mod, which added online functionality and a ton of other GTA Online-type stuff to Rockstar's cult classic, has been shut down permanently just one month after it launched. Virtually all traces of the mod and its source code have been scrubbed from the web, with Swegta strongly suggesting some, uh, outside force had something to do with the abrupt shutdown.

"The Bully Online project is shutting down. Thank you all for playing," reads an update on Swegta's official website. No other information was given, but Insider Gaming managed to dig up a screenshot of some messages that a member of Swegta's team shared to discord, and there's a little more information there. None of it is good for fans of the project.

"The Bully Online project is shutting down forever, which unfortunately means all the following is going to happen in 24 hours: our official Bully Online server (on swegta.com) will be shutdown, development of scripts for Bully Online will stop, the source code will be removed from swegta.com, all our webpages referring to it will be removed, the launcher downloads will taken down, and all Bully Online account data will be permanently deleted," reads one message.

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Now, this part is key. The team member then said Swegta is preparing to make a video announcement with more details, but for now, "know this was not something we wanted." I don't want to assume too much, but that really stinks of cease & desist.

Swegta brushed off concerns over Rockstar and Take-Two's lawyers back in October, pointing to the fact that the mod required a legal copy of the game to work and didn't compete with any existing Rockstar products. That said, it's worth pointing out that, while a fully free version was in the books, Bully Online had a paid early access release that may have drawn scrutiny from the IP holder's lawyers. It's too early to say what happened for sure, but it sounds like we'll find out fairly soon.

"Top secret" GTA 6 feature that some developers were reportedly fired over was 32-player online, according to Rockstar court documents

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After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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Logout Read more Bully Online modder isn't worried about Rockstar's lawyers, but all the hype for the GTA Online-like mod is "a clear sign that Bully 2 wouldn't be such a bad idea"    Rockstar classic Bully gets online mod after 20 years, complete with racing minigame    Rockstar isn't making Bully 2, so fans are taking matters into their own hands with a GTA Online-inspired mode with "minigames, free-roaming, and roleplay"    GTA Vice City was briefly playable in your web browser, until Rockstar owner Take-Two reportedly struck it down    Rockstar topples $100,000 GTA 5 server "for no reason" according to creator who also denies any copyright infringement: "We have NOTHING TO DO with Harry Potter"    "Bully was chaotic from the day I started": Inside the making of Rockstar's 'GTA in boarding school'    Latest in Open World Games How to play with friends in Hytale and join their world    GTA feels more alive than Cyberpunk 2077 because Night City "doesn't feel like a real place," says Skyrim artist    How to generate and connect power in StarRupture    How to get Helium in StarRupture and find Helium deposits    Where to find the Rotor and Tube blueprints in StarRupture    With a map twice the size of Skyrim and larger than Red Dead Redemption 2, open-world game Crimson Desert is real big    Latest in News A month after launch, Bully Online mod "is shutting down forever" and being scrubbed from existence    Fallout 3 launched with so many bugs because Bethesda was "trying to do so much" and "people get tired" eventually    Dev says his puzzle game is suffering on Steam because young people "don't know how to write emails anymore"    6 years ago, an MMO player of focus, commitment, and sheer will demanded custom sandals in-game – they're finally here    After Morrowind and Oblivion, hardcore RPG fans didn't want Bethesda on Fallout 3    Mirror's Edge originally looked like "every other Unreal game" in 2008, but it literally made people sick    GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS

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