Planning to cruise through Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and its neon-soaked streets directly from your browser this holiday season? Too late. Take-Two Interactive just slammed the door shut on the project.
The DOS Zone team's browser port was nothing short of a technical marvel. Players could load up the entire open-world experience of the 2002 classic right in their Chrome or Firefox browsers without downloading anything.
Performance was reportedly flawless, with users connecting controllers and cruising through Tommy Vercetti's criminal empire just like they remembered from the PlayStation 2 days. The project lasted barely a week before Take-Two's legal team showed up with cease-and-desist notices.
The DOS Zone team had attempted to do things the "right" way. They required players to upload their own legitimate copy of the game files to play the full version and tried to operate in what they hoped was a legal gray area, thinking this ownership requirement would keep Take-Two's lawyers at bay, but it wasn't enough.
The company, acting through a brand protection firm called Ebrand, sent an email demanding immediate removal of the project. The message accused The DOS Zone of facilitating unauthorized use of copyrighted content and potentially circumventing technological protection measures.
They claimed the project was misleading to users and infringed on Take-Two's intellectual property rights. Take-Two has a well-documented history of shutting down fan projects, and Vice City seems to attract particular attention from their legal department.
