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I'll post this video popular Valve-centric YouTuber Tyler McVicker uploaded which details the situation a bit more:

But basically there's been a recent situation where Valve has requested development cease on two fan projects involving Valve IPs, a very odd move for Valve as they've famously been known for being cool with many fan projects, including ones people can even sell for profit, for better (Black Mesa) or worse (Hunt Down the Freeman).

First Valve has asked the dev behind the "Portal 64" project to cease development on said project, and in this situation it sounds like Valve asked for development to cease in order to protect themselves from the possibility of Nintendo taking issue with the project possibly using resources that can be traced back to Nintendo (this sorta goes back to something I said when Valve stopped Dolphin from being put on Steam, people keep calling Valve "the most pro-consumer company out there" but stuff like the Dolphin situation and now Portal 64 show they're absolutely NOT willing to back fans if it means they, Valve, also get dragged into a court case, as at the end of the day Valve is still a corporation that doesn't want to spend money on what they feel isn't worth it).

The next one is Valve sent a DMCA to the github page of a project that was aiming to bring Team Fortress 2 into the newest game from Gmod creator Gary Newman, S&Box. Not much is known on why Valve sent a DMCA, but due to a combination of this and coding issues the team that was working on this fan project have opted to cease development.

If I may be a petty bitch for a moment I can't help but feel some mild schadenfreude towards people who are 100% unironic in being part of the "PC Master Race." They love to boast how much Valve are "cool with everything" and say stuff like "bro Nintendo ain't your friend, stop simping for them" anytime someone expresses admiration towards the games made by a company like Nintendo or anytime it's Nintendo issuing a DMCA, but bruh stuff like this shows Valve is 100% no better than a company like Nintendo and if "Shigeru Miyamoto doesn't know you exist or care about you" then same to you about Gabe Newell, he ain't your cool uncle.

Knowing how Nintendo is defensive about their IPs and resources, I can't blame Valve for putting their foot down on Portal 64.

How much financial damage have these fan projects caused? Why don't companies actually prove the financial damage?

I wonder if Valve would've allowed it if they'd called it something else. I don't know, like, find some bootleg equivalent of the N64 and put that after Portal instead of 64. That could be a way for this project to still see the light of day

Regardless of the reasons, hopefully this is just an anomaly for Valve

From what I've gathered, the problem wasn't just the name but the use of proprietary libraries still owned by Nintendo.

The main point I was trying to make with the Portal 64 bit is that people love to say Valve is cool with anything and everything relating to their IPs as fan works, but if you expect Valve to back you up in a situation involving anything owned by another company then no they do not have your back in the slightest. Basically I find it a bit funny how people who praise Valve while also simultaneously saying "[insert name of other game company here] is not your friend]" are having a taste of their own medicine where now I can point to a legitimate example of "Valve ain't your friend either, dude, so you're one to talk."

"valve doesn't want to risk being dragged through the legal system by the most rabidly litigious company on the face of the earth for some people making a funny freeware demake of a game, check mate pc fatso race"

So I ran across this elsewhere on the net and saw this thread. We have… let's just receipts for this whole thing being a shitshow. It goes wild. Like trigger warning: murder/suicide wild. It's a bit of a long walk

Twitter thread

why they bother when they basically stopped making games a while ago is beyond me

I realize this is probably cheating but boy I can only assume you’ve never seen the smug as all fuck people who suck off Valve on a daily basis in places like Reddit or YouTube comment sections. It’s those pretentious people I’m calling out, dudes who took that meme image of Gabe Newell edited to look like Jesus Christ 100% seriously, aka people who are being 100% serious when they say stuff like “Valve will always be the most pro consumer company and will never ever let the fans down, unlike Soyny, Microshit, and Nintardo” (and yes those names are ones I’ve seen PC Master Race people use with a “straight face”).

And any reason why you felt like trying to mischaracterize what I’m saying by doing the text equivalent of drawing me as a soyjak?

“Valve will always be the most pro consumer company and will never ever let the fans down, unlike Soyny, Microshit, and Nintardo”

i mean let's be completely fucking honest here, it'd be incredibly difficult for valve to be more anti-consumer then those 3 simply due to the fact that valve doesn't charge you fucking bonko amounts of money for the privilege to play parts of a game you already fucking paid for.

and, it's not like they couldn't do that, where else could you really go to play pc games? epic games store? yet they still don't.

as for the names, i find it hard to really give a shit about pc elitists saying crap like "soyny" and "microshit", when the people sucking of the console manufacturers refer to the entire pc fanbase as nazis because of fucking course they do. like, "soyny" and "microshit" are names you'd expect to hear on a playground lol

And any reason why you felt like trying to mischaracterize what I’m saying by doing the text equivalent of drawing me as a soyjak?

that's because this entire comment here

The main point I was trying to make with the Portal 64 bit is that people love to say Valve is cool with anything and everything relating to their IPs as fan works, but if you expect Valve to back you up in a situation involving anything owned by another company then no they do not have your back in the slightest. Basically I find it a bit funny how people who praise Valve while also simultaneously saying "[insert name of other game company here] is not your friend]" are having a taste of their own medicine where now I can point to a legitimate example of "Valve ain't your friend either, dude, so you're one to talk."

is screaming to the rafters that you have no idea about the amount of times nintendo has forcibly c&d'd pretty much anything relating to their ip's because they were in a bad mood that day.

so yea, it's at least a shred understandable why valve wouldn't exactly want to attract nintendo's attention.

Dude what? Of course I’m well aware at how infamous Nintendo’s legal department is. I’ve ranted on it too, saying “I love Nintendo as a game maker, but their legal team needs to chill the hell out.” I kinda hate to be that guy but dude it’s really evident you have barely read the stuff I’ve said throughout the years and you do not lurk the places I have.

Again, my point is this: despite how much Valve fanboys like to act as if Valve ALWAYS supports their fans no matter what, always pointing to Valve being cool with things like Black Mesa, at the end of the day Valve is a business just like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, and they’re NOT going to “be behind fans” if it means Valve themselves are going to get caught up in trouble the fan(s) started. Plus I just in general have always had a dislike towards fanboys who are also major hypocrites, telling other fanboys “stop simping for your company of choice” while then doing the same thing towards another, and it doesn’t matter who either.

Dude what? Of course I’m well aware at how infamous Nintendo’s legal department is. I’ve ranted on it too, saying “I love Nintendo as a game maker, but their legal team needs to chill the hell out.” I kinda hate to be that guy but dude it’s really evident you have barely read the stuff I’ve said throughout the years and you do not lurk the places I have.

eh, i haven't been here for a couple years, so that's not far off

Again, my point is this: despite how much Valve fanboys like to act as if Valve ALWAYS supports their fans no matter what, always pointing to Valve being cool with things like Black Mesa, at the end of the day Valve is a business just like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, and they’re NOT going to “be behind fans” if it means Valve themselves are going to get caught up in trouble the fan(s) started.

and expecting them to back the fanbase when they are actively throwing them to the legal wolves is stupid, i get that. but stating this (which i actually somehow completely missed in my original response)

but bruh stuff like this shows Valve is 100% no better than a company like Nintendo

is so back-ass-wards that it borders parody, there's no universe where valve and nintendo are comparable in the slightest. one allows you to make fangames with their ips, and support it to the point that they actually end up becoming official games and hire the people who make these fangames to work for them, and the other needs no introduction or description

Plus I just in general have always had a dislike towards fanboys who are also major hypocrites, telling other fanboys “stop simping for your company of choice” while then doing the same thing towards another, and it doesn’t matter who either.

i agree with you completely here, people like that are fucking insufferable, and should be seen as such regardless of the side of the fence you're on

Oh that part you're highlighting was in regards to the TF2 S&Bx part, which I'll grant that's my bad for not being 100% clearer on, and shit if anything THAT is the more concerning part because while Portal 64 involves a case of "Valve doesn't want to deal with Nintendo," the TF2 S&Bx part is 100% on Valve. I've been seeing people justify the takedown by going "well it was just a wholesale port of the assets so I can't blame Valve," but where were these same people when people were making wholesale ports of games like Mario 64 to PC and instead of going "well it's just porting all of Nintendo's assets to a different engine and PC so I get it," they instead went "boo you suck Nintendo, who cares that it still used your assets!"? Like bro if you're gonna boo at Nintendo for taking down PC ports of their games that use their assets entirely then at least be consistent and boo Valve when they shut down people who take assets from Source games and port them to different engines and/or games.

yea, that one is suspect to hell and back, what made valve decide to go against the grain and axe that specific project? what made it different from all of the others? regardless of the reasoning, one can hope it's a one-off thing, and not indicative of a change at how valve operates going forward

The whole issue with portal 64 could have been avoided if they steered away from making a build for the n64 instead of just on what an n64 game looks like. That project probably would have still been going if they did that.

As for TF2 on source 2, although it might seem unfair to dmca an unlicensed port, it was reasonable. I can only assume Valve did that because they want to remain strict with unauthorized asset integration from Source into Source 2. If I could ask Garry Newman a question, I'd ask him if he thinks it would be possible to get proper liscensing for TF2 asset integration in Sandbox.

Not sure if Valve would be receptive to the idea but I see it as the best course of action if someone wants to try a source 2 port again.

I disagree it being reasonable. Name a fan project that has actually caused serious monetary damage to a company. I know none.
Even if one's decision is made resonable, you just pass unreasonability to another company.

I can understand why Valve had to do this to Portal 64 and TF2 on s&box (the latter I recently understood from garry newman's tweet on the situation).

with that in mind, if they can hire a lawyer, they can hire someone to take care of tf2's bot problem. absolute mess right now.

valve pls fix