The popular physics sandbox game Garry’s Mod is pulling all of its Nintendo-related add-ons following copyright takedown requests from the gaming giant. On Wednesday, the developers of Garry’s Mod made a post on Steam saying users “may have noticed that certain Nintendo related workshop items have recently been taken down,” adding that “this is not a mistake,” as 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,” the post reads. “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.”
Garry’s Mod began removing Nintendo-related content earlier this year, but some users believed these requests were from a copyright troll rather than from Nintendo itself. After looking into this most recent round of copyright takedowns, Garry’s Mod creator Garry Newman confirmed on X that he has “been assured” the takedown requests are “legit.”
The takedown requests mean Garry’s Mod will have to remove a huge swath of Nintendo-related maps and other items. Over the years, player-made content on Garry’s Mod has allowed players to do things like turn Super Mario 64 into a first-person shooter or even explore Hyrule as Link. Since there is just so much Nintendo-related content on Garry’s Mod, developers are asking the community to remove any infringing work they’ve uploaded. The Verge reached out to Nintendo with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
Nintendo has long been known to be fiercely protective of its intellectual property. The company was involved in the removal of the Dolphin Emulator from Steam last year and filed a $2.4 million lawsuit against the developers of the Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu, leading to the shutdown of other emulators over fear of legal action from Nintendo.