In response to Nintendo’s takedown request, the popular physics sandbox game Garry’s Mod, developed by Facepunch Studios, is removing all the “Nintendo-related stuff” from its Steam Workshop. This move has ignited a heated debate within the gaming community, with some voices even saying that Nintendo is setting up a precedent with this move.
The decision to remove Nintendo-related content comes after previous DMCA claims against such mods, with some players alleging fraudulence. While the authenticity of these claims remains unclear, Garry’s Mod is taking proactive steps to comply with Nintendo’s demands.
Nintendo has a reputation for fiercely protecting its intellectual property, evidenced by recent legal actions against developers and emulator creators. Earlier this year, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the makers of the Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu, resulting in the cessation of its development and substantial financial penalties on the developers.
“Some of you may have noticed that certain Nintendo-related workshop items have recently been taken down. This is not a mistake, the takedowns came from Nintendo,” Garry’s Mod developers wrote on Steam.
The impact of Nintendo’s actions extends beyond specific targets, as seen in Valve’s directive to halt Portal 64, a popular Portal demake for the Nintendo 64, due to dependencies on Nintendo’s proprietary libraries.
The sheer volume of Nintendo-themed content in Garry’s Mod, including characters like Mario, Bowser, Zelda, and others, has prompted developers to initiate a cleanup process.
However, players remain sceptical regarding the legitimacy of the takedown request. Some criticise the development team for complying without considering Nintendo’s actions under fair use laws in Japan.
“Honestly, this is fair enough. This is Nintendo’s content and what they allow and don’t allow is up to them. They don’t want you playing with that stuff in Garry’s Mod – that’s their decision, we have to respect that and take down as much as we can,” added developers. “This is an ongoing process, as we have 20 years of uploads to go through. If you want to help us by deleting your Nintendo-related uploads and never uploading them again, that would help us a lot.”
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