Red Dead Redemption 2 Mexico expansion nuked as Rockstar accused of being 'anti modding'

Rockstar Games has been labelled “anti modding” by fans after it ordered the takedown of the popular new ‘Nuevo Paraiso’ mod.

The fan-made ‘Nuevo Paraíso - The Forgotten Frontier’ mod launched in September following a hugely successful August reveal.

Dubbed a “masterpiece” by fans, the expansion granted players access to Mexico within Red Dead Redemption 2 - a location that isn’t accessible in the base game.

Mexico is a hugely important locale within the Red Dead canon, but it’s in the original Red Dead Redemption that you’ll visit Nuevo Paraíso.

The mod updated Nuevo Paraíso to relfect that it’s now 1907 during the events of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Created by NexusMods user Rixus724, ‘Nuevo Paraíso - The Forgotten Frontier’ was supported by Red Dead Redemption 2’s RAGE engine and introduced three new regions, additional wildlife species, treasure hunts, safe houses, smuggler jobs, fort defence quests, taxi jobs, train heists, and more.

Rixus724 via NexusMods

Unfortunately, less than two months after its release, it was taken down at the request of Take Two Interactive.

“Hello everyone. Yesterday, I received a cease and desist notice from Take-Two, requesting that I remove all my mods containing material related to RDR1—including the Mexico mod and others—even those still in development or awaiting updates,” modder Rixus posted to his ko-fi page.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way and contributed in your own way; I am truly grateful, as you were the ones who motivated me to keep going and continue doing what I love. It has been a fun journey, but unfortunately, it has now come to an end. See you later!”

Needless to say, Red Dead Redemption 2 players aren’t thrilled, largely sharing their support for the project.

“Goddamn it. I reinstalled RDR2 just to play this mod,” said Reddit user Bro1189.

“If they’re gonna do [stuff] like this then they should go over all the paywalled stuff people hide behind a patreon or whatever,” added ProbablyWorth.

User CyBroOfficial commented: “It's almost like Rockstar has an anti modding policy.”

READ MORE: Red Dead Redemption 2 permadeath mod introduces a huge new challenge to the wild west

Rockstar Games’ mod guidelines actually make modding very difficult

In early September, Rockstar Games did in fact debut new modding guidelines which were seen as ‘no fun’ and controversial by many.

Here are some of the most notable rules:

• Do not expand or modify Rockstar Games' official storylines, plots, missions, characters, or other elements of our established continuity.
• Do not make mods that combine maps, locations, characters, storylines, in-game assets, or other IP from one Rockstar Games title into another title.
• Multiplayer modding is limited to Rockstar Games’ official licensed Creator Platform or else as otherwise licensed directly by Rockstar Games.
• Do not modify our games to operate on consoles, hardware devices, or other platforms where they have not been officially released by Rockstar Games.

That’s just scratching the surface of the full guidelines and already, you can likely see how just about every mod in existence falls foul of atleast one of those rules.

‘Nuevo Paraíso - The Forgotten Frontier’ was likely seen as violating the first two, particularly in terms of adding RDR1 assets into RDR2.

Given how harmless a mod like this is though, it’s a shame that Rockstar and Take-Two don’t support and foster their mod communities in the same way Bethesda and CD Projekt RED do.

If Red Dead Redemption 2 is already under heav surveillance, we’re probably not going to see too many GTA VI mods survive when a PC port does eventually surface.