Fan-Made Bully Online Mod Revives Rockstar’s High School Classic with Multiplayer

Almost two decades after Bully first sent players back to school under the scrappy rule of Jimmy Hopkins, a group of modders has found a way to reopen Bullworth Academy’s gates — this time to more than one student. YouTuber and developer SWEGTA has announced Bully Online, an ambitious fan project turning Rockstar’s cult 2006 title into a multiplayer playground.

“It’s happening!”

SWEGTA declared in a YouTube reveal, unveiling a mode that allows players to join friends in minigames, roleplay scenarios, and races, while also fending off NPC troublemakers across the town. “It’s a project my team and I have been working on for a very long time,” he said, “and it’s finally at a point in development where we can announce it and show it to the public.”

At its core, Bully Online relies on the DSL script loader — a modding plugin for Bully that expands what’s possible in the game’s 2000s-era framework. According to SWEGTA, this system has allowed the team to do what once seemed technically out of reach, including real-time multiplayer synchronization. The developers plan to open an official public server, giving players a shared space to explore Bullworth’s familiar map and take part in structured activities.

A limited rollout will begin in December for supporters of the project on Ko-Fi, who will gain early access to the server, as well as behind-the-scenes videos and developer commentary. The online mode is described as a hybrid of free roaming and structured gameplay, supported by an in-game economy and inventory system that lets players earn money, buy homes, vehicles, weapons, and other items. While still unofficial, its level of polish suggests a long-term effort to create something more cohesive than a simple fan patch.

The mod arrives at a time when Bully 2 remains one of gaming’s longest-running “what ifs.” In an interview earlier this year, Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser attributed the sequel’s cancellation to “bandwidth issues,” confirming that while it had once entered development at Rockstar New England, the studio’s growing commitments to Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption left little room for another major project.

First released in 2006 (and rebranded as Canis Canem Edit in some regions), Bully stood apart from Rockstar’s other open-world titles. Instead of gang wars or frontier shootouts, it gave players a sardonic high-school drama, complete with cliques, classroom pranks, and a pointed sense of humor about social hierarchies. IGN’s original review described it as “a great, well-crafted action game made even stronger with one of the best senses of humor around,” highlighting its longevity and charm despite modest technical scope.

While the dream of a full sequel has faded through the years — with fragments of its design reportedly absorbed into later Rockstar releases like Red Dead Redemption 2 — the community’s affection for Bullworth has only deepened. Projects like Bully Online fill the void by giving players a reason to revisit the setting not as a museum piece, but as a living, collaborative space.

What’s most striking is the timing. In an era when official remakes and live-service reboots dominate headlines, Bully Online arrives through grassroots enthusiasm rather than corporate revival. It reflects the same DIY resilience that has kept classic PC titles alive long after their publishers moved on — a form of digital preservation driven more by affection than profit. The modding team’s use of new scripting tools also hints at a wider rebirth for Bully modding, which has quietly expanded in recent years with custom missions, graphical tweaks, and gameplay overhauls.

Whether Rockstar will ever revisit the property remains uncertain, but in the meantime, Bully Online suggests that nostalgia can be more than a passive emotion. It can rebuild what time and corporate priorities have left behind, even if only on a fan-run server. For players who still know every hallway of Bullworth Academy by heart, the chance to walk them again — this time with friends — might be enough.