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Rockstar Faces Backlash From Bully Fans After Surprise Shutdown

Bully cover art

By Kyle Gratton Published 1 hour ago Kyle Gratton is an editor and writer based out of Kansas City. He received a bachelor's degree, dual majoring in English and History with a minor in Film and Media Studies, and has been a senior staff writer and reviewer for Screen Rant's Gaming section since 2021, with roles in editorial, and various freelance projects. A terminal Midwesterner who graduated from the University of Kansas, Kyle also has knowledge and interest in literature, film, film adaptions of literature, and history. Find Kyle on Bluesky: kwg.bsky.social and Letterboxd: KyleG5 Sign in to your ScreenRant account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Rockstar Games' Bully has been dormant for years, but that hasn't stopped the developer – or potentially its parent company, Take-Two – from seemingly policing fan-made content for it. Bully recently received online multiplayer courtesy of a mod, but the project didn't even last a month.

Bully Online, created by YouTuber and developer SWEGTA, will shut down within the next 24 hours, according to Twitter user TheNathanNS, who posted a screenshot from the mod's Discord server informing players of the situation. "The Bully Online project is shutting down forever," the message says, "which unfortunately means all the following is going to happen in 24 hours: our official Bully online server will be shutdown, development of scripts for Bully Online will stop, the source code will be removed [...], all our webpages referring to it will be removed, the launcher downloads will [be] taken down, and all Bully Online account data will be permanently deleted."

Bully Online's Abrupt Shutdown Upsets Fans

Seemingly devoid of hope for a Bully sequel, Bully Online was welcomed with open arms. The mod allowed people to join their friends for an experience not unlike GTA Online or Red Dead Online, set within the confines of the game's Bullworth Academy. The abrupt shutdown has immediately drawn a lot of ire. Sentiments are plain to see, but they're well summed up by YouTuber LegacyKillaHD:

As they point out, Bully is essentially dead. Its Scholarship Edition was released in 2008, and the IP has remained dormant since. Bully remaster rumors swirled for a while, but so far nothing has come to fruition – Rockstar itself is currently occupied with Grand Theft Auto 6, and there's no concrete indication that such a project has been outsourced to another dev. Bully Online breathed new life into the aging game, and now fans are clearly upset that the project was scuttled for reasons not yet divulged.

Rockstar Better Be Planning More Bully Games

The protagonist of Bully in English class.

The current assumption is that either Rockstar or Take-Two have threatened legal action against the developers of the Bully Online project, thus the abrupt shutdown and deletion of practically all relevant materials. More will be explained by SWEGTA on his YouTube channel soon. This could simply be a case of a company protecting its intellectual property, but fans are hoping its a sign that more Bully is on the way.

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It may be a long-shot, but if Rockstar and Take-Two are actively protecting the Bully property, there may be a new, official project in the works. There's really no way to tell for sure, though, and we likely won't know until Rockstar decides to make an announcement. This could perhaps restore some good will from Bully fans, but we've still got a long way to go until GTA 6 comes out, let alone whatever else Rockstar might have in the oven.

Bully

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Released October 17, 2006 ESRB T For Teen due to Crude Humor, Language, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence Developer(s) Rockstar Vancouver Publisher(s) Rockstar Games Engine RenderWare, ‎Gamebryo‎ Multiplayer Local Multiplayer, Local Co-Op

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