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What happened
On April 24, 2024, Facepunch posted an announcement titled “Nintendo stuff on Steam Workshop.” It said some Nintendo-related items had already been removed, that the takedowns came from Nintendo, and that Facepunch would remove as much as it could. The affected material was user-created digital content hosted on the Garry’s Mod Steam Workshop, where players can access community content for the physics sandbox.
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Facepunch asked users to delete their Nintendo-related uploads and not upload them again. Its announcement described the process as ongoing because there were “20 years of uploads to go through.” That phrase refers to the span of material the studio said it needed to review; it does not mean 20 years of content had been removed or that every upload was infringing. Facepunch’s April 24, 2024 announcement is the primary account of the cleanup.
Were the takedowns really from Nintendo?
Facepunch stated directly that the takedowns came from Nintendo. On the same day, Garry Newman told PC Gamer that Valve legal was “adamant that they confirmed these reports as legit with Nintendo.” That is a reported verification through Newman’s account of what Valve legal told Facepunch; the underlying notices and a separate, case-specific statement from Nintendo are not available in these cited accounts. PC Gamer’s April 24 report records Newman’s statement.
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Ars Technica’s April 25, 2024 coverage noted public suspicions that the notices might have come from a malicious troll and reported Newman’s concern about misuse of DMCA takedowns. Those suspicions were not proof that the reports were fraudulent; Newman’s subsequent reported account was that Valve legal had confirmed them with Nintendo. Ars Technica’s contemporaneous report describes that response and the public reaction.
What the “20 years” figure does—and doesn’t—mean
Garry’s Mod has accumulated Workshop content over a long period, so a broad review is not the same thing as a count of affected files. The figures reported in April 2024 help show the scale of the platform, but none establishes how many Nintendo-related items were removed:
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- 20 years of uploads: Facepunch’s description of the material it needed to review, not a count of infringing or removed files.
- More than 1.8 million Workshop add-ons: Ars Technica’s overall Steam Workshop scale figure at the time, not a count of Nintendo-related add-ons.
- Nearly 3,000 Pokémon search results: Ars Technica’s search snapshot on April 25, 2024, not a verified infringement count or a current result total.
Why Nintendo-related Workshop items were affected
Nintendo’s general IP policy explains how it expects infringement notices to be submitted: a notice should identify the allegedly infringed work and material, include contact details, state a good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized, include an accuracy and authority statement under penalty of perjury, and carry a physical or electronic signature. That policy provides context for Nintendo’s general notice process; it does not independently confirm the specific Garry’s Mod takedowns. Nintendo of America’s Intellectual Property Policy sets out the general requirements.
Facepunch describes Garry’s Mod as a physics sandbox without predefined aims or goals, with free community Workshop content. The takedowns therefore concerned user uploads hosted through the game’s Workshop, rather than a reported removal of Garry’s Mod itself. The Garry’s Mod Steam page describes the game and its community content.
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