Bully Online Turns Bullworth Into A GTA Online-Style Playground — Here’s Why I’m Paying Attention

Why This Caught My Eye

I didn’t expect to be excited about new reasons to revisit Bully in 2025, but here we are. Bully Online, a fan-made multiplayer mod led by YouTuber Swegta, is aiming to turn Rockstar’s schoolyard cult classic into a GTA Online-style sandbox with roleplay servers, a player-driven economy, and minigames ranging from street races to an FPS mode called Rat Wars. Early backers get in this December; the wider release is penciled in for 2026, lining up with the original game’s 20th anniversary. As someone who watched the last Bully MP attempt sputter, this reveal caught my attention because it leans harder into roleplay and server identity-the stuff that actually keeps communities alive.

Key Takeaways

• Fan-made multiplayer for Canis Canem Edit with free-roam, RP-focused servers, and experimental minigames.
• In-game economy supports housing, vehicles, weapons, and item trading; practical touches like vehicle keys to fight theft.
• Rat Wars turns Bully into an FPS via arcade-style matchmaking, while the main servers avoid guns to preserve the vibe.
• Early backers can play in December; full release targeted for 2026-right in time for Bully’s 20th anniversary.

Breaking Down the Announcement

Swegta’s reveal frames Bully Online as a social sandbox first, arcade cabinet second. You’ll earn money by tackling side quests, jumping into minigames, and trading items you pick up around Bullworth. That cash rolls into property, vehicles, weapons, and other character-defining purchases. It’s familiar-GTA Online proved how powerful a simple loop of grind, buy, flex can be—but here it’s filtered through Bully’s smaller, messier Americana.

The RP angle isn’t just window dressing. Servers are positioned to prioritize roleplaying rulesets, which means your choices should matter beyond raw K/D. The detail that stood out: you’ll have keys to lock your car so it doesn’t get yoinked while you’re messing around in the cafeteria. It’s a tiny feature, but it hints at a team thinking about day-to-day frictions that make shared spaces feel lived-in rather than chaotic grief arenas.

Minigames skew from expected to unhinged. You’ve got races and last-player-standing brawls, sure, but Rat Wars is the wild card. It’s an opt-in FPS you queue for via TV screens in the world, transforming players into giant, gun-toting rodents and temporarily turning Bully into a shooter. Importantly, guns don’t exist on the main servers; the mod wants to keep the vibe closer to schoolyard scraps and pranks. That’s a smart compromise—lean into variety without wrecking the tone.

Supporters on Ko-fi are promised December access plus some server perks like a blue nametag and priority queues. The full public rollout is planned for 2026, which is a neat bit of symmetry with the original’s two-decade milestone.

The Real Story: Can a 2006 Game Handle Modern Multiplayer?

This is where my hype meets reality. Bully is from 2006, and its PC version—while beloved—has never been the most stable foundation. Syncing physics, AI schedules, and player states across a server is hard even for modern engines with built-in netcode. The previous Bully MP effort struggled under those headaches. If Bully Online sticks the landing, it’ll be because the team nails three things: solid server tick and desync management, practical anti-cheat, and clear rulesets that dampen griefing without killing spontaneity.

There’s also the legal elephant in the classroom. Rockstar and Take-Two have a complicated history with mods—sometimes hands-off, sometimes swinging the DMCA bat, and recently more welcoming to roleplay communities after bringing the creators of FiveM and RedM into the fold. Bully Online isn’t affiliated, so the project lives at the mercy of publisher tolerance. If you’re planning to sink time or money into this, keep that risk in mind. The best defense here will be a strict non-commercial stance, cosmetic-focused perks, and zero infringement beyond what’s necessary to make the mod run.

What Gamers Need to Know

• Expect PC-first support. This is almost certainly built around the PC Scholarship Edition; don’t hold your breath for consoles.
• Setup friction is likely. Old game, new netcode—prepare for config guides, community patches, and day-one hiccups.
• Server culture will define the experience. If you loved structured RP in FiveM or Garry’s Mod, you’ll feel at home; if you prefer free-for-all chaos, find a server aligned with that.
• Perks matter. So far, backer bonuses look cosmetic/queue-based. If that changes into pay-to-win, enthusiasm will nosedive fast.
• Content cadence will make or break it. Minigame refreshes, seasonal events, and economic tuning are what keep players clocking in.

Why This Matters Now

We’re in a weird moment where GTA roleplay servers are mainstream, but the appetite for smaller, personality-driven sandboxes is growing. Bully’s scale actually helps here: a campus and town are intimate enough to make player stories collide naturally. If Bully Online can capture that “you had to be there” energy—detentions, bike chases, pranks gone wrong—this could be the most alive Bullworth has felt since 2006. It won’t replace the Bully 2 we’ll probably never get, but it might become the next best hangout spot while we all wait for whatever Rockstar does after GTA 6.

Looking Ahead

I’m cautiously optimistic. The pitch is strong, the feature list is smart, and the RP-first approach is the right call. But it’s a long road from trailer to thriving community, and 2026 is a long way off. December access will tell us a lot: stability, moderation tools, and whether Rat Wars is a novelty or a real pillar. If the team delivers on reliable servers and steady updates, Bully Online could give Bullworth a second life worth logging into.

TL;DR

Bully Online aims to turn Canis Canem Edit into a social sandbox with RP servers, an economy, and off-the-wall minigames like FPS Rat Wars. Early backers can play in December, full release in 2026. It looks promising—just keep expectations tempered around tech hurdles and the realities of modding an old Rockstar game.