Nintendo issues widespread Steam Workshop takedown to remove all Garry’s Mod content

Nintendo is seeking to remove any and all fan-made content based on its IP from Steam’s community-driven Workshop. A series of all-encompassing takedowns have been issued, resulting in games like Garry’s Mod being forced to erase any relevant creations.

In a sandbox like Garry’s Mod, just about anything is possible. With community-created assets, players can design their own gaming experiences, animate videos,  and plenty more in between. Over its near two-decade lifecycle, we’ve seen all manner of whacky and often innovative projects catch fire.

Moving forward, however, these projects will have to catch fire without the help of any Nintendo IP. Where in the past, gamers could jump into maps rocking a Mario skin, or create their own custom Zelda video series, for instance, Nintendo is now cracking down to ensure that’s no longer possible.

Garry’s Mod devs revealed they’d been hit with numerous takedown notices from Nintendo directly, and as a result, have swiftly been acting to remove countless community creations based around the Japanese company’s IP.

“We’re working on removing all Nintendo-related stuff from Steam Workshop,” an April 24 announcement read. While Garry’s Mod is no doubt the most impacted by this motion, it also means no other titles on Steam will be able to rely on Nintendo-based community creations in the Workshop.

“Honestly, this is fair enough,” the blog post admitted. “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.”

Obviously, removing every single piece of community-created Nintendo content is easier said than done. With “20 years of uploads to go through,” it’s a tall order, and a task that will no doubt take quite some time to complete. As a result, devs are even urging players to consider their own creations.

“Deleting your Nintendo-related uploads and never uploading them again, that would help us a lot.”

The news came as a surprise to some in the community, as ‘Nintendo’ has a history of similar behavior. At least, that’s how it’s appeared in recent weeks. Early in 2024, one pesky user by the now-infamous name of ‘Aaron Peters,’ posed as an employee of Nintendo of America.

This individual fired out DMCA claims en masse, targeting Nintendo-related content on Steam’s Workshop, primarily impacting Garry’s Mod. At the time, the community rallied together behind a number of popular YouTubers to discover the truth behind the matter and expose the falsified claims.

As a result of this recent debacle, some were hesitant to trust the legitimacy of the new takedown notices. Hence, devs feeling the need to clarify in their April 24 announcement.

“This is not a mistake, the takedowns came from Nintendo.”