The Pinnacle of V creator Josh Romito has been under a lot of heat recently. So much that he has now shut down the project due to claims that he has stolen assets from other Grand Theft Auto mods that are available online.
Josh claimed that some people have contributed graphical assets for him to use in the Pinnacle of V mod. However, he was unaware that they had been extracted from other mods.
“Over the past week or so, I have been informed that parts of this project have been directly stolen from other developers, and handed to me as additions to my work. I have been made a fool of due to the motions of my peers, and I am taking action to try to preserve any honesty and integrity with the community I can. I apologize to everyone who was stolen from, and I wish there was a way this could be reversed.” Josh told DSOGaming.
He then explained to them the reason he has decided to shut the project down:
“I have personally put hundreds of hours of my own time and hard, legitimate work into this project. I am truly hurt and disgusted to see the fraud that has come from others. I hope the community can see this situation for what it is, that I have been honest from the beginning, and am doing what I can to make amends of this wrong doing. I started this project as a learning experience, and it turned into fraud when others became involved. The internet is full of scammers and people who serve no purpose but to cause havoc. This was my first time getting involved in a “community” type project, and I was shocked to see some of the support I was receiving, and how generous people were. It turns out it was all lies and stolen content. I’m not sure how else to handle a situation like this, so I am simply shutting it down and releasing the honest truth.”
I think it’s a real shame that such a fantastic mod with a great creator has been forced to shut down the project due to people submitting illegitimate content. However, Josh has now said that he will be releasing a new version of the mod under a new title in the next few months.
Image courtesy of segmentnext
