Steam Workshop's Nintendo Add-ons Takedown

Submission 20,937

Part of a series on Garry's Mod. [View Related Entries]

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).

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).

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).

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.

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.

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).

@CrispyToastYT sent me these in regards to the takedowns of his non-Nintendo addons. Make of it what you will, but just know:1. None of these IPs are owned by Nintendo2. Both of these games are either multiplatform or for smartphones#gmod #garrysmod pic.twitter.com/mTHU1LBOhs

— MarioNumbers (@Missingno123311) April 27, 2024