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Steam Workshop's Nintendo Add-ons Takedown

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Related Explainer: Why Were Nintendo Assets Removed From Games Like 'Garry's Mod'? Aaron Peters And The DMCA Takedowns On Steam Workshop Explained

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Overview

Steam Workshop's Nintendo Add-ons Takedown, also known as Garry's Mod Add-ons DMCA Controversy, refers to the controversy surrounding supposedly bogus Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claims made by a copyright troll claiming to be working for Nintendo of America targeting add-ons from Nintendo franchises in the Steam Workshop. In early 2024, efforts were made by Gmod YouTube animators and workshoppers Brewster T. Koopa and Crispy Toast, along with ZePyromancer's voice actor Electricstar,[3] to identify the individual allegedly responsible for the takedown requests, as well as spread awareness of the issue. In late April 2024, Garry's Mod developers then deleted 20 years' worth of Nintendo assets from Steam, saying it received legitimate DMCA claims from Nintendo, sparking widespread discourse and backlash online.

Background

On February 11th, 2024, longtime Gmodder Brewster T. Koopa (@brewsterkoopa) posted a plethora of tweets involving what they claimed were false DMCAs on Twitter[1] / X about Nintendo add-ons purportedly getting falsely taken down, pointing out inconsistent strikes and Gmod being too popular not to be noticed by Nintendo in prior years (tweet seen below).


Brewster T. Koopa @brewsterkoopa. Follow [PSA] False flaggers on the Garry's Mod Workshop. There is someone, or a group of trolls going around the Gmod workshop filing false DMCA claims and shutting down addons, over 10 Gmod addon makers, myself included have been attacked, with over a dozen of our addons gone. TO A DIVICA Notice of copyright Infringement has been filed on this item. Valve will review the complaint and reach out to the person who posted this item and provide details and information on the next steps. Super Mario Galaxy Model Pack 599 ratings X

The same day, fellow Gmodder Crispy Toast uploaded a YouTube video titled "Re: Nintendo Gmod Addons Taken Down…" (an entry in the "Re: Demoman" series of videos). In the description, he wrote that many add-ons were suddenly removed from Steam Workshop on January 23rd, particularly those related to Nintendo franchises like Super Mario and Pokémon, as well as a couple of non-Nintendo franchises, due to what he claimed was a malicious copyright troll with false DMCAs who claims to be a representative for Nintendo of America (video shown below).

In the video, Crispy Toast said that Nintendo had nothing to do with the DMCA claims and the add-ons were there since the mid-2000s. He listed other Gmodders that were affected by this, including Apoc Hedgie, RandomTBush, JCThorton, Mister Prawn and a multitude of others with varying content, such as models and maps, hit with takedowns.



Developments

Aaron Peters Allegations

Following the Crispy Toast video that was uploaded on February 11th, 2024, Brewster T. Koopa then posted another tweet[8] on February 28th claiming that the individual had sent DMCA emails to numerous Nintendo-based Gmodders (including himself), which allegedly revealed the supposed troll's name to be "Aaron Peters" (email screenshot shown below).


DMCA takedown notice 40517 DMCA From: dmca@valvesoftware.com To: Cc: DMCA A DMCA Takedown Notice on your item Valve has received a DMCA copyright takedown notice directed at your workshop item for Garry's Mod posting on Steam, at copy of the notice is set forth in full at the end of this email. Aaron Peters Nintendo of America Inc. on behalf of Nintendo of America Inc. alleges that they are the copyright owner of the game content found here https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/ super-mario-odyssey-switch/ and that your use of the content without their authorization infringes their rights. As a result of this complaint, we have temporarily removed your posting from Steam as required by law. Valve follows the procedure set forth in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The DMCA is a United States copyright law that governs online service provider liability in case of a copyright infringement claim. When we receive a DMCA notice, Valve must take down the allegedly infringing copyright materials; otherwise, Valve could be subject to a copyright infringement claim. Counter-Notice Process Yahoo/Inbox If you feel that the DMCA notice filed against you is inaccurate, Valve can reinstate your posting on Steam only upon receipt of a DMCA-compliant counter-notice from you containing the following information listed below. Upon receipt of your counter-notice, the claimant is allowed 10 business days to bring legal proceedings against you. If we do not receive notice of such proceeding within that period, then we will reinstate your content. Wed, Feb 28 at 3:07 PM Please note: If the content in your post infringed when the original copyright complaint arrived, your counter-notice is not legally valid. Do not submit a counter-notice if there was illegal content, even if it has now been removed. 1 Identify the material that Valve removed or disabled access to and the location at which it previously appeared. CONTENT BEING REPORTED This is using the name "Super Mario" or any trademarked variations ("Mario Bros."), logos, sounds, or music associated with the franchise. ORIGINAL CONTENT Image URL of Mario: 2. Your statement, made under penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that Valve removed that material due to a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled. hereby state, under penalty of perjury, that I hav a good faith belief alve removed that material due to a mistak or nisidentification of materia to be removed or disabled. 3. Your name, complete mailing address, and telephone number. Name Mailing Address Telephone number 4. A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of your local federal District Court (or if you are located outside the United States, the Federal District Court for Western Washington, where Valve is located) and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the notice of alleged copyright infringement (or an agent of that person). Į, hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court in which my home (identified above) is located, (or if I live outside the United States, the Federal District Court for Western Washington, where Valve is located). I further promise that I will accept service of process from the person who provided the notice of alleged copyright infringement (or an agent of that person). 5. Your physical or electronic signature. /Signature/, digital signature, or a scanned copy of this statement with your handwritten signature. This signature indicates your willingness to stand behind the statements you make. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own counsel. Valve cannot provide legal advice. Please let us know if you have any other questions about this notification. Thanks for your attention. DMCA Team Valve Corporation Date of the game posted: Copyright 2024 Nintendo This item is not authorized for posting on Steam, except under the Steam account named Mister Prawn or just a watermark in the content itself, for example: Ⓒ Nintendo. Hello, We represent Nintendo of America Inc. ("Nintendo") in copyright matters. Certain material posted on the web site located at steampowered.com infringes copyrights owned by Nintendo. This notice is provided pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 USC § 512. The copyrighted works at issue are Nintendo's video games, including the audiovisual work, images, and fictional character depictions from the following: Nintendo's Super Mario video game franchise, and protected along with the audiovisual work, images, and fictional character depictions from, including but not limited to, the following U.S. Copyright Reg. Nos. PA0000273028, supp. by PA0000547457 (Super Mario Bros.); PA0000427614, supp. by PA0000547456 (Super Mario Bros. 2); PA0000563454 (Super Mario Bros. 3); PA000532077, supp. by PA0000786376 (Super Mario Land); PA0000576039, supp. by PAu002116393 & PA0000757139 (Super Mario World); PA0001692032 (Super Paper Mario); PA0001250090 & PA00012500091 (Mario Party 3); PA0000593952 (Super Mario Kart); PA0001223065 (Mario Kart: Double Dash); PA0001393510 (Mario Kart DS); PA0001250348 (Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour); PA0001905153 & PA0001916996 (Mario Golf: World Tour); and PA0001063649 (Mario Tennis). Sincerely, Nintendo Legal Department Nintendo of America Inc. I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. I hereby state that the information herein is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that I am authorized to act on Nintendo of America Inc.'s behalf. Aaron Peters Nintendo of America Inc. Minden al We would appreciate your expeditious removal of all infringing content. Please contact me immediately with any questions. This letter is not intended to and shall not waive or prejudice any rights and remedies that Nintendo may have at law, in equity or otherwise. Any and all such rights and remedies are hereby expressly reserved.

According to Brewster T. Koopa and other Gmodders affected by the DMCA takedowns, Peters purportedly had a history of sending DMCAs to anyone whose work contained Nintendo-related properties in the past, including NSFW artists and the Workshop for Fraymakers. On January 25th, 2024, Twitter[2] user and Fraymakers content creator Lew, known on YouTube as @IntoTheFrayYT, also claimed an individual named Aaron Peters was behind takedowns they received in that community (seen below).


Into The Fray! @IntoTheFrayYT Follow X Update to the Fraymakers workshop situation: the recent wave of takedowns aren't from nintendo, they are actually from a faker by the name of Aaron Peters, who initially took down some creations last week.

On June 27th, 2020, Pillowfort[4] user MkLXIV shared a blog discussing alleged DMCA actions from Nintendo against artists, which notably mentioned Aaron Peters' name. Peters' motivation as to why he sent DMCAs is currently unknown.

On March 4th, 2024, Crispy Toast uploaded a video called "Garry's Mod – False Nintendo DMCA Claims: The Story," detailing the entire story about the false DMCA claims and the tweets from Brewster T. Koopa, garnering over 16,000 views in roughly two months (seen below).



As of the creation of the video, Crispy Toast, Brewster T. Koopa and various others were campaigning to trying to spread the word to big YouTubers such as SomeOrdinaryGamers and Cr1tiKaL about the situation in the hopes they would spread awareness about the issue. The add-ons themselves were archived and uploaded through Google Drive by various users.

FacePunch's Statement And Nintendo Add-on Removal

On April 24th, 2024, Facepunch, the studio that made GMod, then issued a statement to the Steam Workshop that they decided to remove every single Nintendo add-ons from the platform after receiving DMCAs (shown below). The news quickly spread online, with some users becoming frustrated that they were not allowed to download Nintendo add-ons on the site anymore.


NEWS POSTED Wed, April 24 Nintendo stuff on Steam Workshop We're working on removing all Nintendo related stuff from Steam Workshop 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.

Garry Newman's Response

On April 25, 2024, Garry Newman (the creator of Gmod) stated on Twitter[9] that he was "assured that the takedowns have been verified by Nintendo as legit," showing no intent to cancel the Workshop's purge of Nintendo content (shown below). Despite this, he would continue to gain criticism from those who still believed that the prior takedowns were Aaron Peters' doing.


garry @garrynewman Follow I have been assured that the takedowns have been verified by Nintendo as legit, so this will now continue as planned. Sorry. + W REPLIES 98 RETWEETS FAVORITES 91 765 10:21 am - Apr 25, 2024 âš« Twitter Web App +7 65

Also on April 25th, YouTuber Moist Cr1TiKaL uploaded a video detailing the situation, notably reading the KYM entry, as well as a Reddit post and a Kotaku article discussing the controversy, receiving over 442,000 views in five hours (shown below).



Update

On April 26th, 2024, the day after Garry Newman's response, Twitter user @GlitchedIris64[10] posted a lengthy thread on their tweet, saying that they had managed to get in contact with a Nintendo representative and posted screenshots as evidence. The representative revealed that the emails were indeed fake and that Aaron Peters never worked for the company the entire time (shown below).

After the thread, many users praised @GlitchedIris64 for their research and getting confirmation from an actual Nintendo employee.

On April 28th, two days after @GlitchedIris64's tweet, another Twitter user named @Missingno123311 brings up the fact that Aaron Peters has also been sending DMCAs to non-Nintendo add-ons, such as the one for PAC-MAN, bringing more suspicious to the troll than ever before, thanks to the screenshots CrispyToast provided to them (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

[1] Twitter – Brewster T. Koopa

[2] Twitter – IntoTheFrayYT

[3] Twitter – Electricstar

[4] Pillowfort – MkLXIV

[5] Reddit – Post mentioning Aaron Peters

[6] Garry's Mod Steam discussion – [PSA] Nintendo-related mods are being DMCA'd by a known fraudster

[7] Bluesky – Crispy Toast

[8] Twitter – brewsterkoopa

[9] Twitter – garrynewman

[10] Twitter – GlitchedIris64

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