A popular fan-made VR mod of Cyberpunk 2077 is no longer available, sparking a familiar debate around paid mods and publisher control. CD Projekt Red has issued a DMCA takedown against the Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod created by well-known VR modder Luke Ross, effectively forcing it offline after being available for nearly four years.
The mod, first released in early 2022, allowed players to explore Night City in full VR, dramatically boosting immersion for headset users. It was widely praised in the VR community and became one of Ross’s most popular projects.
What led to the takedown
The mod itself was not the problem, but the fact that access to it was locked behind a paywall. While CD Projekt Red has long supported free modding for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3, charging money for a mod using its intellectual property crossed a legal line for the company.
Ross addressed the takedown directly in a blunt and emotional Patreon post titled “Another one bites the dust.” He confirmed that CD Projekt Red contacted him through its legal team, leaving little room for negotiation.
“CD PROJEKT S.A. decided that they would follow in Take-Two Interactive Software’s steps and issued a DMCA notice against me,” Ross wrote. He accused the company of applying what he called “iron-clad corpo logic,” arguing that publishers expect modders to work for free while blocking any form of financial support.
Ross also pushed back on the idea that his VR framework was a derivative work, saying it simply enables games to be viewed in immersive 3D and does not reuse a company’s assets. “The bottom line is all that matters, and gamers be damned,” he added.
Despite the setback, Ross made it clear he is not walking away from VR modding. In the same post, he announced the release of a new VR mode for Baldur’s Gate 3, once again behind a paywall.
There could still be a legitimate path forward for Cyberpunk 2077 fans, as Flat2VR Studios has publicly expressed interest in working with CD Projekt Red on an officially approved VR version of the game.
The takedown lands at a rough moment for VR players, following Meta’s recent pullback from VR gaming after layoffs across its Reality Labs division. It also highlights a tension that has existed for years. Game studios often praise modding communities, but the moment money enters the picture, those relationships can quickly unravel.
