Take-Two takes aim at Red Dead 2 fan-made Hot Coffee mod

Report: the publisher is trying to come down hard on the mod with a takedown notice already in the works.

There is a long history of sex in Rockstar games, with the Grand Theft Auto series frequently flirting with sexualised content, most infamously with the Hot Coffee mod for San Andreas (which is so infamous that it even has its own wiki page). Now a similarly-themed mod has landed for the studio's latest epic adventure, Red Dead Redemption 2. This time, however, the powers that be seem none too happy about the situation.

Speaking to PCGamesN, one of the modders, Unlosing, revealed that Take-Two had been in touch and had allegedly handed out a takedown notice.

"I was a bit surprised and didn't expect Take-Two to worry about a single-player mod this much. I find it crazy how Rockstar Games can add hookers to its games, but when someone uploads a mod (not even of the same quality) it's suddenly 'inappropriate'.

"The mod doesn't contain any nudity or nude models, and only uses assets that are still in the game. The animations are from the drunk bar mission with Lenny (which are still in the game), and the 'moaning' noises are simply the sounds the [character models] make when they get injured. Also, they mention 'online services', however, this mod is only available for single-player. To answer your question: no, I don't think it's fair."

No doubt Take-Two and Rockstar would like to move on from this, especially given the complicated history surrounding the original Hot Coffee mod for San Andreas. The discovery of that part of the game got the studio in a spot of bother, causing a temporary age rating change and fairly severe legal repercussions. They'll be hoping to avoid anything similar here, even if the situations are markedly different. Will that happen, though? Unlosing isn't sure just yet.

"Since the mod was uploaded by me, it's sort of my responsibility to deal with any requests from Take-Two since I am the only one with the website permissions to take down the mod. I'm really not sure what I want to do yet. I don't plan on taking the mod down any time soon."

For the time being, the mod remains available to download on Nexus Mods.