No, the DMCA Notice Against Garry’s Mod Isn’t Fake
Garry’s Mod, a popular sandbox game developed by Facepunch Studios, is being forced to remove all Nintendo-related content following takedown notices from Nintendo itself. This decision comes after almost 20 years of user-generated content featuring Nintendo’s assets has been available within the game.
Initially, we thought the removal seemed linked to DMCA claims filed by an individual named “Aaron Peters,” which made us question the legitimacy of the takedowns. With some Steam community members claiming these claims were fake, Facepunch Studios clarified the situation.
Here’s their complete statement –
“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.
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.
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.”
Their statement confirmed that the DMCA takedowns were, in fact, a direct consequence of actions taken by Nintendo in its defense of intellectual property rights. Facepunch highlighted respecting such decisions, advising creators to proactively remove their Nintendo-associated uploads from Garry’s Mod Steam Workshop.
This event was not the first time Nintendo enforced its intellectual property rights. Nintendo has a history of taking a strong stance against unauthorized use of its IPs, which includes fan creations and mods. This latest move by Nintendo is part of its broader strategy to control how its IPs are used and portrayed in various media.
As a result of this takedown, Garry’s Mod players and creators will no longer have access to Nintendo-related content, which will likely impact the game’s modding community and the variety of user-generated content available. The full impact of this decision remains to be seen, but it is clear that it marks a significant change for Nintendo.
