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.

 

[Steampunkette]

So you decide what is good faith?

Edited the rest out because it is not worth it.

Every one in a discussion determines whether something is being done in good faith or bad faith. Ultimately they get to choose to disengage, after all.

The fact that your tone has been dismissive, hostile, and rude throughout the discussion leads to me thinking it's in bad faith.

Me providing you with the evidence you demanded and showing that the Pinkertons have engaged in union busting, harassment, murder, and more in the past few years... and then going 'Nah, not worth it'?

Cherry on top.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Every one in a discussion determines whether something is being done in good faith or bad faith. Ultimately they get to choose to disengage, after all.

Is that so?

I disengage from the argument. That was what I meant with not worth it. Coming after me is not exactly nice behaviour too.

So I respectfully diswngage without agreeing to your post.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Fiest thanks for the answer.

If you don't understand what the term "leg-breakers" mean, that's not my fault.

Google says it means violent thug. Are they really?

There is zero reason to hire a security/investigative team to do anything other than security and investigative issues.

Investigate where magic cards are and secure them? Seems like they did exactly that.

Going to a youtuber's house to demand MtG cards is neither a security nor investigative issue. Now, if the Pinkertons had been sent to the factory that made the cards, or to the distributors' warehouses, that would be another thing, because that's where the actual issue lay: they needed to find out how the cards go out.

Yeah. Agreed.

The only reason to send the Pinkertons was to intimidate Dan Cannon, the youtuber who revealed the cards, into giving them back without a fight.

"In a video explainer published April 22nd, Cannon claims the agents threatened jail time, huge fines and other repercussions if he didn’t relinquish the “stolen product”, which reportedly upset his wife to the point of tears. The creator said that he purchased the boxes from an acquaintance who did not realise March of the Machine: The Aftermath was a substantively different MTG product from the recently released March of the Machine set. The Pinkertons took everything, including tokens and packaging, before giving him the number for a Wizards of the Coast employee."

Because the cards were not stolen goods, and quite probably a lawyer would tell them they didn't have the right to demand the cards if they had been legally purchased. And if they had been stolen goods, then the police should have been involved.

Ok. So involving the police if the cards were stolen is nicer than just asking to give them back? The former will probably result in a fine. The latter won't.
And I guess sending police to a youtuber would not have been regarded better at the time.

I'm sure the internet would have had a different reaction to this if WotC could prove that the cards were literally stolen property.

Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe they did not want to do that.

A lot of people, in talking about the DMCA takedown (both here and on reddit), y'know, the one this thread is about, have said "Yeah, this was a dumb PR move because it was basically free advertising for D&D" but nobody is saying that WotC did anything legally wrong. People are actually understanding the why behind this, even if they disagree with the actions.

Agreed.

But WotC didn't get the law involved. They got mercenaries.

Maybe they did not want to get the law involved. Maybe taking back their property was all they wanted without having to 100% prove that it was not a mistake. In hindsight a dumb move.

But in the end, does not matter anymore. Done is done. I got my answer to my honest question.
So thanks and bye.

 

[Steampunkette]

Yeeeeah... that's -such- a bad take on top of everything else.

The solution to the problem should never be "Hire mercenaries to act outside the law".

Terrible way to go.

 

[Faolyn]

In all seriousness, I think I'm adding "Pinkerton" to my list of keywords that announce when it's time to unwatch a thread. Once they're namedropped, it's effectively impossible to discuss the original topic anymore.

Heh. To be fair, there's not much more to discuss. WotC, or a third party they hired, overreacted and made a dumb decision, and when the masses got upset, WotC backtracted. The WotC gave another half-hearted apology of the same type they always do when they backtrack.

Really, the only question is, how many more times is WotC going to make these sorts of dumb decisions.

 

[Faolyn]

Fiest thanks for the answer.

Google says it means violent thug. Are they really?

They have a history of violent thuggery, so yes.

Investigate where magic cards are and secure them? Seems like they did exactly that.

No, because it was incredibly obvious where the cards went. Since, you know, Cannon made a video about them. What needed to be investigated was how the cards got there, and if they were indeed stolen. Which they weren't. They were sent out by accident.

Ok. So involving the police if the cards were stolen is nicer than just asking to give them back? The former will probably result in a fine. The latter won't.
And I guess sending police to a youtuber would not have been regarded better at the time.

They didn't just ask. They threatened the couple.

Plus, the fact that WotC didn't get the police involves strongly suggests that they knew the cards weren't stolen goods.

Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe they did not want to do that.

So, what, you're saying that WotC knew they had multiple options and knowingly chose to take the one that would give them the worst PR? I mean, that suggests you think WotC is even dumber than I've been saying!

 

[Dire Bare]

Google says it means violent thug. Are they really?

Yes.

But hey, the arguments and sources provided here didn't convince you, neither did your own research . . . so why accept the truth of it now?

 

[Gradine]

To be fair to at least one point being made; while getting the police involved to recover "stolen" property wouldn't have been the PR nightmare that hiring Pinkertons turned out to be, it wouldn't have been substantially better.

Unfortunately I couldn't get any of the U.S. police departments I contacted to approve my new proposed ad campaign for them, titled "<insert municipality> Police Department: We're Not Quite As Bad As the Pinkertons!" Their loss, really.

 

[Dire Bare]

To be fair to at least one point being made; while getting the police involved to recover "stolen" property wouldn't have been the PR nightmare that hiring Pinkertons turned out to be, it wouldn't have been substantially better.

Unfortunately I couldn't get any of the U.S. police departments I contacted to approve my new proposed ad campaign for them, titled "<insert municipality> Police Department: We're Not Quite As Bad As the Pinkertons!" Their loss, really.

Well, the police were not involved because the cards in question were very much NOT stolen. And WotC knew that. The worst possible crime was that a retailer purposefully broke street date. That's it.

Should they have investigated? Yes. Should they have hired a security firm to do the work? I think so, but the Pinkertons? Should they have sent goons to the YouTubers house to threaten and harass them? Hell, no.

And, let's not forget . . . WotC DID apologize and try to make things right with both the YouTuber in question and the community at large. Not everybody feels their apology was sincere or went far enough, but . . . they did accept that they were in the wrong and that mistakes were made, and they did attempt to make things right.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Heh. To be fair, there's not much more to discuss. WotC, or a third party they hired, overreacted and made a dumb decision, and when the masses got upset, WotC backtracted. The WotC gave another half-hearted apology of the same type they always do when they backtrack.

Really, the only question is, how many more times is WotC going to make these sorts of dumb decisions.

As long as apologizing when they get caught doesn't cost much in terms of sales.