from mod-squad depth
I really can’t believe it’s 2024 and there are still video game publishers who want to go to war against their own modding communities. I expect this sort of thing from Nintendo world, but those who publish in the PC gaming market really need to stop this crap. Half the fun of gaming on PC is being able to use fan-made game mods. It’s one thing if we’re talking about mods that are used to cheat in online games, but it’s completely baffling that companies would want to punish modding communities that create mods for offline single player games.
Bandai Namco has done this sort of thing in the distant past, when they sent a legal threat letter to a modder for Dark souls whose crime was rendering the game’s graphics better. Now a bunch of mod makers are claiming copyright for YouTube videos strikesand not claims, from a third party to enforce rights to brag about mods for Tekken 8.
A number of modders and creators are reporting that they have been affected by copyright infringement on YouTube videos containing Tekken 8 mods, with some downloads of said mods also removed.
Users, including modders UMIN and I AM OP plus potentially a few others, have been sharing posts online that seem to confirm that their Tekken videos have been taken down in one of the harshest ways. These are not Content ID or copyright claims. They seem to get full copyright strikes, which means if you get three of them in a short period of time, your YouTube account can be permanently banned.
It seems that some channels have reportedly already reached that threshold. Most of the mods in question are for things like character costume changes and other purely cosmetic mods. Why they drew the ire of Bandai Namco, while other such mods and videos were left alone, is anyone’s guess. In fact, some of the takedowns aren’t even for videos showing mods, but gaming videos only.
Now, to be clear, these strikes were not issued directly by Namco, but by a third party intellectual property enforcement agency called the Computer Software Copyright Association. This group is responsible for publishing copyright notices Tekken content in the past, but nothing like the amount we see now. There’s no concrete way to know for sure that Bandai Namco contracted ACCS for this type of enforcement, but it’s hard to imagine how it could be otherwise.
Why is this happening now? We’re back to speculation, but the best theory I’ve seen is that the company is worried about mods that might compete with the DLC the company has for some of these cosmetic changes.
As for why this is happening now, we don’t really know either, but some speculate that it could be a measure to try to cut down on what Bamco may see as competition to its official DLC costumes (or target people who may be making money from mods). — but again, nothing is confirmed.
According to Japanese copyright law, Bandai Namco can do this… but why? Is the work of these modders really so good that they will stop the audience from buying the company’s DLC? If so, its DLC can’t be that good or worth the money.
But the general question is why going this route is better than encouraging a modding community that makes the game more attractive to buy?
Filed Under: copyright, fan mods, mods, video games
Companies: computer software copyright association, bandai namco