The Rockstar community seems to have taken a consensus regarding the GTA IV beta.
Last weekend, a fan found the beta in an Xbox 360 sold near Rockstar North’s HQ in Edinburgh. Fans started looking around for data, and even discovered uncompleted content.
But things took a turn when someone uploaded a playable build of the game on the Internet Archive. The beta was initially unplayable because it was missing the .rpf (RAGE Package File) but dataminers found a way to get it running on Xbox 360, and even the Xbox 360 emulator Xenia.
That playable build was removed from the archive, raising concerns that it was DMCA’d. Rockstar has yet to confirm they pulled a DMCA, but that was enough for the community.
GTAForums management reminded users that sharing links to the files breaks the forum’s rules. But they’re allowing users to continue to share discoveries from the beta.
Subsequently, the game preservation website Hidden Palace removed the files as well. They clarified they did not get any DMCAs but chose to avoid any potential issues themselves.
