WotC WotC (Mistakenly) Issues DMCA Takedown Against Baldur's Gate-themed Stardew Valley Mod

Wizards of the Coast recently issued a DMCA takedown notice against Baldur's Village, a popular fan-created Stardew Valley mod which was based on Baldur's Gate 3.

Created by a modding team called Nexus Mods, the mod featured BG3 characters such as Astarion and Shadowheart, 20+ NPCs, and various locations and events. The mod, which has had over 4,000 downloads, took over a year to make, according to the team, and garnered praise from Swen Vincke, the CEO of Larion, the company which made Baldur's Gate 3, who also posted about the situation on Twitter:

“Free quality fan mods highlighting your characters in other game genres are proof your work resonates and a unique form of word of mouth. Imho they shouldn’t be treated like commercial ventures that infringe on your property. Protecting your IP can be tricky, but I do hope this gets settled. There are good ways of dealing with this.”

The mod went into "moderation review" on March 29th. However, it seems this was a 'mistake'--WotC has since issued a statement:

"The Baldur's Village DMCA takedown was issued mistakenly—we are sorry about that. We are in the process of fixing that now so fans and the Stardew community can continue to enjoy this great mod!"

So, the mod is back again! To use it you need the have the Stardew Modding API, the Content Patcher, and the Portraiture mod.

This isn't the first time WotC has 'erroneously' issued takedown notices against fans. In August 2024, the company took action against various YouTubers who were previewing the then-upcoming 2024 D&D Player's Handbook. A few days later, after some public outcry, WotC reversed its decision.

 

[Faolyn]

No. Still being a youtuber is not something I give anything about.

Who said anything about caring for them, or giving "anything" about them?

People doing things for clicks... Sometimes stupid and criminal ones.

Just look at many d&d channels. So many just do ragebaits.

And many, presumably, don't.

There are stupid RPGs, some of which are harmful in some way, but I assume you still play good ones. There are stupid books, stupid TV shows, stupid movies, stupid podcasts; some of them can be downright harmful, even. Do you refuse to read, watch, or listen to anything as well?

And some people do outright dangerous or illegal things.
Like flyong to Berlin and shooting a firework rocket into a children bedroom.

Maybe. Maybe not. Does say more about the law system than anything. One should not have to fear law if one did nothing illegal.

Yes, well, that would be nice, wouldn't it?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Who said anything about caring for them, or giving "anything" about them?

Who said anythign about people doing fine things on youtube?
Guess what. At some point I decided that youtube is not worth watching with somw exceptions.

And many, presumably, don't.

Maybe. Too bad the algorith puts people doing stupid things for clicks on the top.

There are stupid RPGs, some of which are harmful in some way, but I assume you still play good ones. There are stupid books, stupid TV shows, stupid movies, stupid podcasts; some of them can be downright harmful, even. Do you refuse to read, watch, or listen to anything as well?

Yeah. Whatabout... fill in what you like.

Yes, well, that would be nice, wouldn't it?

Yeah. I think you don't have to let people that are not law enforcement onto your house. So if they threaten to call the police if you have not done something illegal, let them call the police. Or just don't open the door and threaten to call the police yourself.

 

[Faolyn]

Maybe. Too bad the algorith puts people doing stupid things for clicks on the top.

Only if you engage. I don't get anything like that.

Yeah. I think you don't have to let people that are not law enforcement onto your house. So if they threaten to call the police if you have not done something illegal, let them call the police. Or just don't open the door and threaten to call the police yourself.

And hope that the people who have a century+ reputation as being legbreakers aren't going to uphold that reputation.

 

[Older Beholder]

Only if you engage. I don't get anything like that.

I'm not sure about this, I feel it takes careful curation to not be constantly bombarded by misogynistic grifters.
At least it feels that way in movie and video game spaces. Just the other day I got recommended a ProJared video.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm not sure about this, I feel it takes careful curation to not be constantly bombarded by misogynistic grifters.
At least it feels that way in movie and video game spaces. Just the other day I got recommended a ProJared video.

I watch computer game let's plays with some regularity, and I don't get them.

 

[Gradine]

I think y'all are on the wrong parts of YouTube; basically all of the "YouTubers" I know are incredibly wholesome and make silly Minecraft and/or Phasmophobia videos with their friends, or else they're incredibly wholesome Let's Players, or else they're incredibly wholesome video essayists, or else...

Like we can all name a few high profile bad actors but for the most part the platform is full of really cool people.

 

[Gradine]

I'm not sure about this, I feel it takes careful curation to not be constantly bombarded by misogynistic grifters.
At least it feels that way in movie and video game spaces. Just the other day I got recommended a ProJared video.

To be fair that's just an unfortunate side effect of being really into vintage JRPGs. You just block his channel and back in the rest of the great content

 

[Older Beholder]

-

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Only if you engage. I don't get anything like that.

I also don't get that automatically. But if I search for D&D content that might be slightly controversial for example, half of it is terrible clickbait content.

And hope that the people who have a century+ reputation as being legbreakers aren't going to uphold that reputation.

They won't break your leg if they work for wizards. If you really think they do, you have different problems.
Which is that you probably should think about where you get your information from.
Probably from outrage creator youtubers...

 

[Steampunkette]

As a relevant note to the folks trying to pretend the Pinkertons weren't a big deal:

They were sent to raid the -home- of Dan Cannon. A Youtuber who leaked information on the new Magic the Gathering set.

They forced themselves into his home, damaged his home and property, and stole the items he lawfully purchased on behalf of WotC.

They remain a private army of mercenary thugs that break the law and get away with it because of executive and corporate backing. Whinging about them being 'Fat Bald Security Guards' and not mercs or whatever is just willful ignorance.

As far as the situation at hand: Yeah. They did things in an entirely legal manner. There was no 'Mistake' in their actions. It's just a way to deflect responsibility after the fact. Manipulative language to feign remorse.

Now if you wanna talk about whether it's -ethical-, or right, that they built that machine and turned it on? Whole other conversation.