Bully Online lead says a "legal threat" forced its shutdown, but insists the mod "never posed any threat to anybody"

In a world where Rockstar Games can more than comfortably get by on just GTA and Red Dead Redemption, some of its more maverick but no less beloved series have been put on extended hiatus. Bully is a prime example, but a recent mod project to turn it into a GTA Online-style experience really breathed new life into it. However, just a few weeks after it went live, Bully Online was swiftly shut down, with no reason given - however, a cease and desist from Rockstar or parent company Take-Two always felt like the most likely outcome. YouTuber 'Swegta', the project's lead, has now posted a video explaining that a "legal threat" was the reason why Bully Online closed, and confirms that the team behind it, Fat Pigeon Development, will no longer pursue the project. While it's not explicitly said who this threat came from, Swegta says that you can "take two guesses as to who is behind this."

While of course nowhere near the scale of something like GTA Online, Bully Online was still an incredibly ambitious mod project. Taking a 19-year-old single-player game and turning its assets into an explorable online space, packed with progression systems and new minigames, it was the kind of experience that Bully fans had been praying for for a long time. At last, a new reason to play the Rockstar classic. Roughly a month after launching, however, it was taken offline. Swegta promised a video explaining the situation, and now that video has arrived.

"Fat Pigeon Development has ceased all development and promotion of Bully Online," the YouTuber says. "That's no longer a thing we're pursuing. I can't get into specifics, but I'll let you take two guesses as to who is behind this."

Swegta is quick to shut down allegations of this being a "scam" project due to funding being generated through Kofi donations. He does concede, however, that "this project would have been shut down no matter what" after having read the letter sent to Fat Pigeon by the company requesting Bully Online's removal. Swegta says that those who financially backed the project have been approached and offered refunds.

Later in the video, he says that Fat Pigeon would've been willing to make changes and concessions to the mod if the company had requested it, but claims "there was never a point like that. It was just like: 'This has to go, stop this now. You're [getting] a warning right now. If you continue going down this path, action will be taken against you, so just knock it off.'"

"I think the most disappointing part about all of this is the fact that we brought all these people together, we had a blast," Swegta adds, talking about the impact Bully Online had. "We created all these fond memories and there was like a spark happening in the community. There was new interest in this IP, Bully. There was a genuine interest in this thing. A lot of people were excited and a lot of people were having fun with it.

"Despite all of that, it was just considered like a faux pas to pursue this project by the powers that be. Again, in my opinion, this has never posed any threat to anybody. You know, this actually had a positive impact on the fan base. It led to people buying the game specifically so that they could play this mod, which as somebody who is both a big fan of this game and somebody who led this project, that's a huge honor."

Towards the end of the video, he concludes that "we went as far as we could with this project. We tried to the best of our abilities to make something special for everybody to participate in and enjoy, and we could all bond over our love for this game. That was the goal from the start. And I think we delivered. We went as far as we possibly could. We brought people together. We made everybody smile. We brought like new excitement to this game, this franchise. And by the end of it all, getting a legal threat because of that doesn't feel too good. But at the same time, the journey up until that point was amazing."

Going forwards, Swegta says that Fat Pigeon will now look at developing original projects, and he makes it very clear that "we're not going to do anything that pertains to Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games, or any of their IPs or subsidiaries."

It's a shame to see Bully Online succumb to this fate, but it's also unsurprising. There have been plenty of examples of ambitious mod and preservation projects involving Rockstar games being axed, such as the one that aimed to recreate GTA 4's Liberty City inside GTA 5. Whereas other companies like CD Projekt Red have embraced mod culture and are far less restrictive on what people can do with its games, dealing with Rockstar titles is still a bit of a minefield.